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Aqua Vale set for makeover

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Published Date:
16 January 2008
AQUA Vale leisure centre in Aylesbury could be set for a £5 million makeover which would see a new cafe, new dry changing rooms and a new roof to cover the outdoor pool.
At a cabinet meeting last night (Tuesday), Aylesbury Vale district councillors were set to discuss the Faulkner Brown Feasibilty Study which includes possible renovations which could also involve a second flume being added to the swimming pool.

Other than essential maintenance and repairs, only limited service developments have taken place at Aqua Vale since it was opened in September 2001.

Usage levels at Aqua Vale and Swan Pool have fallen, in total, by 101,000 between 2003/4 and 2006/7 following the opening of Cannons and the completion of a multi-million pound redevelopment of the Guttmann centre.

David Thompson, cabinet member for leisure, said: "I personally believe that we do need to do something. There has been no major investment in Aqua Vale since it was opened.

"We should always been thinking of ways to increase the number of people using the facilities and encouraging new people to use the facilities.

"The main drop in numbers has come from the dry side. One of the main reasons is people feel the changing rooms are inadequate. We also want to change the fitness centre and make it better for users by improving the entrances and having a new cafeteria.

"With all the new housing growth due to take place in Aylesbury there will be more demand for leisure and fitness facilities and we want to meet that demand," he added.

The feasibility study was initially carried out to improve the financial performance and usage levels of the sites over the next couple of years so that the council does not incur a significantly higher subsidy payment from March 2012 onwards.

Another one of the main reasons was also to make Aqua Vale more energy efficient as energy costs have increased from £99,332 to £261,412 in 2006.

Budgetary allowance for all the proposed improvements at Aqua Vale will be presented in full to the council in April 2008. It is estimated that the cost of the works could be reduced by £290,000 if they were taken all in one go.

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  • Last Updated: 16 January 2008 2:13 PM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Aylesbury
 
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JR,

12/12/2008 19:14:12
Woah, hold on there.
This has been a huge white elephant since day 1 but to chuck another £5million at it won't solve the problems.
The place has only been open 7 years, costing a phenominal amount of money to build but the whole thing was badly designed in the first place - why not get hold of the original architects & make them pay back the thousands they charged?
There are many reasons why attendance has dropped off. Firstly, parking. The car park is woefully undersized & after a heavy rainfall, many spaces are in deep water!
The reception area is also woefully undersized & often understaffed. To say this building was built in 2001, it doesn't seem to be very compliant as far as disability is concerned, wheelchair users have to negotiate a long, steep ramp just to enter the building - why? the whole thing started as a piece of level turf.
And then trying to access the changing areas in a wheelchair is another nightmare.
Even for the able-bodied, acessing the changing areas is a nightmare.
Then there are the water problems. It's not very pleasant to be swimming along & have black stuff filling the pool - and that happened on more than one occasion.
There have also been problems with the slide (I don't know what they were but the slide has been closed once or twice.
And the lifeguards don't seem to care about some of the high jinx.
And finally, the cafe. Even at quiet times it can be impossible to get served when the staff are deep in discussion with each other & ignoring customers.
Rather than chuck £5million at the existing pool, can they not simply build a new one for that kind of cash?
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