Leisure Services: West Lancashire

Opened the debate

Swimming is a life skill that many people cherish but others fear. The Park Pool in Ormskirk and the Nye Bevan Swimming Pool in Skelmersdale have served communities for over half a century, teaching thousands of children to swim and providing essential community services. However, these facilities are now aging and need major refurbishment or replacement at a cost of £49 million, up from £36.6 million due to rising costs and inflation since 2019. Since 2010, more than 400 swimming pools have closed in Britain, with deprived areas being disproportionately affected.

Government Response

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire on securing this important debate. The public leisure sector plays an important role in delivering sport, physical activity and leisure across the country through community assets such as swimming pools, sports halls, pitches, and community spaces. These assets help to create a sense of pride, improve community cohesion, address health inequalities, combat loneliness, grow local economies, and provide jobs and purpose. The minister acknowledged that my hon. Friend has made a powerful and passionate case for leisure facilities in her constituency and has met with the local council facing significant pressures after 14 years. She will ensure specific points raised about West Lancashire borough council are brought to the attention of her ministerial colleagues. Regarding swimming lessons, the minister highlighted the importance of swimming as part of the national curriculum and the Department for Education's partnership with Swim England, RLSS UK, and RNLI to support schools in teaching children how to swim safely. Since 2021, over £5 million has been invested by Sport England in West Lancashire, and the Government is committed to supporting grassroots sport and physical activity initiatives like the multi-sport grassroots facilities programme bringing about £123 million of investment across the UK this year. She also mentioned that around 28% of people in West Lancashire are inactive, contributing immense savings to the NHS by preventing thousands of cases of diabetes and dementia each year. The minister discussed how co-location between sport and health services could help inactive groups, citing examples such as Your Space Hoyland in Barnsley South and GoodGym's work on tackling isolation and loneliness. She emphasised her Department's commitment to working with the sector to support closer collaboration between health, wellbeing, and leisure facilities.