WE WOULD like to refer to the article in your newspaper where Leisure Portfolio Councillor Tony Ward claimed that there had been consultation prior to the planning application for the new leisure centre being submitted.

We are sorry, but we must write to disagree with Councillor Ward as to our knowledge there was no consultation with any club that operates from Andover Leisure Centre, certainly not with Andover Swimming & Water Polo Club (ASWPC), and it would seem other clubs like Andover Diving Club.

Without any consultation TVBC drafted all the tender documents that were then used by tenderers for the new leisure contract.

The documents specified the size of the new leisure centre including the size of the swimming pool.

Then TVBC held pre-planning application meetings with tenderers to discuss and probably informally approve the plans for the new leisure centre.

New leisure provider Places for People recently said to us that normally they provide a new leisure centre behind the existing one and then transfer to the new when completed.

But TVBC decided to provide the new leisure centre on the same location as the existing one.

No one seemed to realise that to provide a new leisure centre on the same site as the existing one, Andover would be without all the facilities currently provided including a swimming pool for up to two years.

Councillor Ward claims that plans for a temporary pool were first considered in November. We would consider that even that is rather late in the process, and anyway we are sorry but we are not convinced.

For instance, why is it that plans for a temporary pool were not debated at full council until February 24? In addition to this, the ASWPC were stunned when on February 9, we learned along with everyone else that the existing leisure centre was closing on April 1.

The club is now frantically looking around to train at pool space in nearby towns until the temporary pool is open.

We also plead with TVBC once again to keep the existing leisure centre open until the temporary pool is ready.

The ASWPC of course supports the provision of a temporary pool. The club this year celebrates its 80th birthday. That is 80 years of providing opportunities for competitive swimming and water polo for this area – especially for youngsters.

Without a pool in Andover for two years, the club would simply cease to exist. It’s not just the club, there are hundreds of youngsters and adults who currently learn to swim with the swim school under Valley Leisure.

Councillor Ward, the first the ASWPC knew about the proposals for the new leisure centre was when the planning application was submitted just before Christmas and now as the proposals are so far advanced, we along with everyone else in this town are quite frankly presented with a fait accompli.

We are however continuing to push for a larger pool with better space for spectators to alleviate the deficit in pool space that TVBC admit to having in their own sports & recreation strategy.

The Committee, Andover Swimming & Water Polo Club