Will council ‘inspire a generation’?

While memories are great for looking back, the official motto of London 2012 is ‘inspire a generation’. How can we do that here in Melton?

I already have many other good memories from our town. These include playing squash at Melton Leisure Centre and having fun with my three children in the children’s leisure pool at Waterfield. However, the leisure centre was closed to the public nearly two years ago; and in an act of timing that you really couldn’t make up, the council permanently closed the children’s leisure pool just two days before the Olympic Torch Relay passed Waterfield – where local schools were positioned to cheer it on!

This should not be about politics – my five-year-old son doesn’t know the meaning of the word, he just wants to know why he won’t be able to play in the children’s leisure pool anymore? I want to know why, two years after the only squash courts in a borough of more than 50,000 people were closed, we seem no nearer a replacement?

Melton Council is in the enviable position of having several millions of poundsin the bank for use on capital projects from the sale of land to Sainsbury’s. The current economic climate also means that building costs have dropped considerably.

On August 1 the council will announce the results of its short ‘Let’s Get It Together On Leisure’ survey, which ran in April and May, and will begin outlining its vision for leisure services in the borough.

I’m not holding my breath. Not only did this survey seem to me poorly designed, but when the council consulted on the Waterfield refurbishment in 2007 (yes it really was five years ago) only 22.2 per cent supported the option to close the children’s leisure pool. Then after the plans were announced, more than 3,000 people signed a petition against its closure – yet still this went ahead.

Will Melton Council now seize the opportunity to ‘inspire a generation’ with a modern, multi-purpose sports facility – not just for the people of Melton but to attract people and money into our town – or will we just be left with memories of now closed facilities?

It’s interesting to note that when Waterfield Swimming Pool was first built in 1965, it was paid for primarily by donations and fundraising by the people of Melton. There’s a book on its history in Melton Library, and it says that when the council was first approached for support ‘councillors thought that it was an inopportune time to embark on such an ambitious scheme’.

I sincerely hope that in 2012 our council and councillors will now show real ambition, and truly ‘inspire a generation’ with their vision and plans.

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