A COMMUNITY fighting for its local swimming pool to be reopened is calling for urgent clarity after it was suggested the venue will be stripped of previously secured funding. 

Whitehill Swimming Pool in Dennistoun was previously promised funding of £800,000 from the Community Asset Fund which would have contributed to exploratory maintenance and repair works of the East End building. 

In an email seen by the Glasgow Times, Glasgow Life revealed it is “not able” to “give that reassurance at this time” after a question was asked around confirmation of the cash. 

READ MORE: Fears as Dennistoun's Whitehill Pool ‘snubbed’

Campaigners now say financial constraints should not be used as an excuse to keep the pool closed.

Although the community venue requires extensive repair works, the venue has remained closed since March due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Local resident and campaigner Alwyn Poulter, said: “The impact will be shocking for the local area if the pool is closed. There are around 130,000 users every year at the pool. 

“We’ve had people in the area contact us telling us they’re having to get two busses to get to other facilities. 

“Dennistoun is seen as an up and coming area, although there is a lot of deprivation and poverty. People really need these facilities at their doorstep.

“Money pledged for the pool should be spent on the pool. We should be seeing investment in this facility. As other private facilities reopen, financial constraints should not be an excuse to remove leisure facilities from communities. 

“I hope the pool will reopen and I hope that Glasgow Life gets the money from somewhere to reopen the facilities.”

Campaign activists previously told us that vulnerable people are most likely to suffer from the Dennistoun pool's continued closure. 

READ MORE: Whitehill Pool closure fears in Dennistoun won't go away

Local Labour councillor Elaine McDougall, said: “We were promised this money over a year ago, long before COVID, and we are still waiting. 

“People in Dennistoun feel let down over Whitehill Pool, it’s vital that we get commitments to safeguard its long term future.”

“Glasgow’s budget has been hammered for years by the Edinburgh Government and we’ve had enough of the cuts. Let us unite to get the investment Whitehill Pool badly needs now.”

A Glasgow Life spokeswoman said: “Glasgow Life works with Glasgow City Council to plan the investment programme for the buildings which we operate, as the funding for this type of work is provided by Glasgow City Council.  

“It has been established that additional survey work at the pool is required to provide a more detailed analysis of the current condition of the venue, which will inform future investment decisions.

“In the current financial backdrop, as a result of the Covid-19 global pandemic, and the finite capacity which Glasgow Life has to reopen public buildings following an extended period of closure, and while it remains unclear when or how social distancing restrictions will end, Glasgow Life cannot plan to reactivate all of the sites and venues which it operates across the city.”