Littlehampton and Arundel swimming pools secured funds for solar panels

The £135,470 grant was secured from phase two of the £40 million Swimming Pool Support Fund, aimed at improving energy efficiency in pools in England.

Littlehampton Wave on Sea Road, run by Freedom Leisure, will see £45,070 for 91 new solar panels, and Arundel Lido on Queen Street, run by Arundel and Downland Leisure Trust, will £77,000 for 151 new solar panels, as well as £13,400 for a new main pool cover.

The Wave also applied for £18,924 for destratification fans in the pool hall, and the Lido for another £150,000 for plant room insulation and a combined heating and power unit, both of which were unsuccessful.

Arun Leisure Centre in Bognor Regis also made a bid for £85,497, with £62,838 for triple glazed windows and £22,659 for destratification fans, which was also unsuccessful.

Council officers said the fund received 726 applications from across the country, with Sports England telling the council about its successful bids on January 29 this year.

They said Sport England reported the amount requested through applications was ‘nearly four times’ the amount available in the phase two fund, and so had to make ‘tough decisions’.

The grant was recommended to the full council by the policy and finance committee at its meeting on Thursday, March 7, for final approval to include it in the council’s 2024/25 capital budget.

The fund was announced in the national government’s 2023 Spring Budget, with phase one seeing £20 million spread across 100 local authorities to supplement the rising operating costs for swimming pools.