Financial worries keep 80pc of swimming pools closed

BORIS JOHNSON’S anti-obesity drive has been dealt an early blow after it emerged that four in five swimming pools remained closed for financial reasons.

The Prime Minister will launch his Better Health campaign today in a video on social media, urging the overweight to revise their diets and take more exercise.

But most public swimming pools remain shut despite being given the goahead by the Government to reopen, because social distancing rules makes it impossible for them to break even.

Gyms, indoor pools and leisure centres were allowed to open on Saturday after being closed for months because of the coronavirus outbreak, and they will be a key part of the Government’s drive to get the country fit to help people fight off Covid-19.

Swim England, the campaign group, said four in five pools remained shut because opening them was “just not affordable”.

It said pools faced hefty bills to reheat the water and get other facilities into the right condition for use, which was uneconomical if they were going to have limited numbers of paying customers.

Jane Nickerson, chief executive of Swim England, said 30 per cent of public pools could remain closed until next year, which she said was “unacceptable”. She said swimming risked becoming “leisure’s forgotten activity”.

Ms Nickerson added: “If pools remain shut, jobs are at risk and hundreds of thousands may miss out on the vital chance to learn how to swim and enjoy the water safely – not to mention the impact on our sports.”

She said subsidies were needed so that local councils “can make pools sustainable facilities and not enforce price hikes just to remain open”.

Government rules state that pools must allow three square metres per swimmer, and suggest double-width lanes, the closure of sauna and steam rooms and one-way systems both in and out of the water.

In England, only 330 public pools out of 1,657 have so far reopened.

Gyms have opened in greater numbers, having spent months preparing for social distancing during lockdown. David Lloyd sports centres opened 87 of their 89 clubs, while Puregym opened 214 out of 230 sites.