Hamilton Water Palace’s leisure pool could close during weekdays in order to save money.
Savings options were discussed at South Lanarkshire Council’s Revenue Budget Strategy meeting recently which included possible revised opening times of the pool.
The revised opening hours mean the leisure pool – containing the flume, lazy river, and tyre slide – would remain open at the weekends and school holidays only, saving a total of £13,000.
The 25m competition pool would not be affected by the changes.
No decisions have been taken yet. The purpose of the savings options meeting is to present the options for meeting the savings requirement in preparation of the new financial year.
Access to Hamilton Water Palace is included within the price of general pool admission, therefore separate attendance figures are not available.
It is estimated that there are approximately 7700 users per annum, with weekends and the school holiday period experiencing the highest levels of usage.
Blantyre Leisure Centre Children’s Pool is also noted as a savings option in the council report, and could achieve a saving of £10,000.
The option will see the children’s pool being available during weekdays for swimming lessons only, with access available to families at periods over the weekends and school holidays.
Access to the children’s pool is included within the price of general pool admission, therefore separate attendance figures are not available. It is estimated that there are approximately 5100 users per annum.
A spokesperson for South Lanarkshire Council, said: “At a special meeting of the Executive Committee on 13 January 2021 a number of options were presented to elected members for their consideration to enable the council to meet its obligation to balance its budget.
“Members agreed to defer all the recommendations to a meeting of the full council, which will happen later this month.
“It was noted that a working group has been set up to allow political leaders the opportunity to engage in cross-party discussions on the savings options.
“The council has continued to gather and feed back the views of local people and businesses.
“There is an easy-to-use survey and other ways local people can have their say, and we would encourage everyone to take part.
“These responses will subsequently be shared with all 64 elected members as they consider the options, as will an update on the overall position following the Scottish Government’s budget announcements.
“More details are available on the ‘Budget savings options – South Lanarkshire Council’ page on our website.”
