Petition launched to save beloved Sheffield swimming baths after council decision to abandon 90-year-old pool
Petition accuses council of not consulting public over swimming pool closure
Campaigners have launched a bid to save a beloved Sheffield swimming pool after Sheffield Council announced it would not be re-opened.
King Edward’s, on Clarkehouse Road, near Broomhall, closed in May because of safety concerns. It is said to need around £200,000 worth of work, and Sheffield Council has said it will not take over the facility which had been operated by a trust since the 1990s.
It dates back to the 1930s.
Now residents have raised concerns that the council has made a decision without any public consultation, and have launched a petition against the closure. You can sign the petition here.
They have also accused the council of ‘shirking its responsibilities’ with the closure.
The petition calls on the council to re-open the pool taking a proactive approach that recognises its value to local health and wellbeing., and make the necessary investments and support the pool to stay open in the long term.
They also point out that the money needed it a fraction of the millions that are being spent on a massive refurbishment of the Concord Leisure Centre in Shiregreen.
The petition, started by campaigner Elizabeth Larminie states: “KES has been a valued public asset for Broomhall and surrounding areas since 1936, surviving a World War, a previous attempt by SCC (Sheffield City Council) to close it in the 1990s, and a global pandemic.
“It has transpired that the unpaid volunteer trustees were unable to find funds for essential repairs and handed the reins back to the former service provider, SCC. SCC later stated that an investment of around £200,000 was needed to reopen KES, and that they were not going to resume running the pool.
“The loss of KES is devastating to the local community. It was used by a wide range of residents of this diverse area, including parents and babies, workers during their lunch breaks, children of local schools, and older people, with a huge number of swimming lessons provided for local children after school. Notwithstanding financial difficulties in the last few years—in the context of a national acceleration in lost water space since 2020—it had generally been making ends meet, with decades of success as an independent charity. For example, in 2022 it made a net income of around £96,000 and the trust still had net assets of almost £64,000 at the end of 2024.
“The closure of the pool comes in the context of declining swimming skills in children, increasing rates of children drowning, and recent data revealing that children in the UK are the unhealthiest in decades. Two thirds of over 16s are also obese or overweight in the UK. Meanwhile, swimming is estimated to be saving the NHS and social care £357 million a year.”
Campaigners have also warned that with the cost of a bus fare to Pond’s Forge and back (roughly equal to the cost of a swim itself), the extra travel time, and the fact that sessions and classes are often full at other pools, many residents will now swim less or give up completely, particularly those who cannot afford a car.
The petition adds: “SCC has not consulted residents and has said nothing about working to find partners to keep KES running. SCC judged KES to not be viable back in 1993, but the pool has gone on to have decades of success even while relying on unpaid volunteers to run it and with scant support from SCC. Following the closure of Goodwin Pool in 2023 it is now the only pool for this side of the city. SCC’s statement that ’the decision to close the facility rests with the Trust’ is shirking responsibility for an active decision to strip the community of a vital asset with 90 years of service to boosting local health.
It added: “The investment needed is relatively small. SCC has committed £68 million to renovate Concord Sports Centre , and the sum needed to reopen KES would be less than 0.3 per cent of that percent of that. Going forward, local users may be willing to pay more for services and/or may suggest additional uses for the pool to increase revenue if given the opportunity to be consulted. SCC needs to step up and take responsibility for a valuable public asset.“
The council said previously that essential repairs and safety-related works are estimated to cost around £200,000, with further capital investment likely to be required.
Operating the facility would require a further £200,000 subsidy per year.
Coun Brian Holmshaw, chairman of the communities, parks and leisure policy committee, and whose ward the King Edwards Pool is located in, told a council meeting last month that the council had concluded that taking on responsibility for the operation or funding of the facility ’would not represent a sustainable or strategic use of public resources’.
He told the meeting that alternative arrangements are being made for school swimming lessons and club sessions. He has also said the council’s sports and leisure strategy was about investing in the right facilities in the right places.
Coun Joe Otten said that a council report on leisure facilities before the committee talked about the pool’s “strategic importance”.
He asked if the council was in danger of going against its own report before it had even been considered.
Sheffield Council has been approached for comment on the petition. The authority’s Broomhill and Sharrow ward councillors have also been approached for comment.