Ringmer Pool faces closure by end of 2022 unless financially viable alternative is found

On Tuesday (November 8), Cllr Nick Bennett, East Sussex County Council’s lead member for resources and climate change, signed off on plans to begin decommissioning the community pool from December 31.

In making the decision, however, he noted that there are ongoing discussions with Lewes District Council, which could potentially prevent the decommissioning from going ahead.

Speaking ahead of the meeting last week, a spokesman for the district council said: “Lewes District Council remains determined to play its part in the reopening of Ringmer Swimming Pool.

“We have been liaising with East Sussex County Council for some time and have made urgent representations to colleagues at County Hall that we hope will allow more time to agree a route map to the pool’s reopening.

“The pool is an important community facility in Ringmer, making a valuable contribution to the wellbeing of all those who visited it.”

Due to an element of commercial confidentiality, most of the discussion took place in closed session. Even so, papers published before the meeting say the county council would only agree to stop the decommissioning plans if a ‘financially viable’ deal is agreed.

The papers say an expression of interest exercise (carried out last year) and a subsequent public consultation had not resulted in such a deal coming forward.

The consultation did, however, show that 90 per cent of its 229 respondents opposed the pool’s permanent closure.

Consultees were also asked whether they have been able to use alternative facilities since equipment failure forced the pool to close in September 2020. Only 50 per cent of the respondents said they had.

The papers go on to note that a permanent closure would disproportionately affect those without easy access to private transport, such as the young and elderly, as well as disabled people and their carers.

Respondents also made a number of suggestions about ways to improve the financial viability of the facility, but none were considered viable by council officers.

A key consideration is the pool’s location within the grounds of King’s Academy, which significantly limits its potential opening hours as a result of child safeguarding concerns.