Summary
Last night’s meeting to address uncertainties about Whitehill Pool was productive.
Thank you to all members of the public who attended and contributed. The comments and questions left no doubt about how important the pool is to our community.
There is clearly no easy fix as significant capital funding is required.
Commitments
Glasgow Life gave several commitments:
- They will improve communication and supply Dennistoun Community Council with monthly progress updates, leading to a Glasgow Life report presenting approximately 4-6 options to Glasgow City Council, to be completed by August.
- They will liaise with swimming clubs about the possibility of supplying a bus service to other pools while Whitehill is closed.
- There will be no further imposition of items such as the hated metal fence, without consultation. The exception would be if something was urgently required for safety reasons.
It was reiterated that Glasgow Life cannot opt for permanent closure of the pool: to do that would require councillors voting to do so.
The meeting was filmed, and the intention is to have the video available online in due course.
Written notes with additional detail will also be published as a formal record of the meeting.
Officials and elected representatives in attendance
- Andrew Olney, Director of Libraries, Sport & Communities, Glasgow Life
- Alan Milner, Head of Sport, Glasgow Life
- Scott Faichney, Special Projects Manager, Glasgow Life
- David McEwan, Divisional Director, Property, City Deal & Major Projects, Glasgow City Council
- Cllr Allan Casey
- Cllr Anthony Carroll
- Ivan McKee MSP
- John Mason MSP
- Patrick Harvie MSP
- Paul Sweeney MSP was unable to attend and provided a written statement.
- Apologies were received from from Cllr Elaine McDougall, Annie Wells MSP, Sandesh Gulhane MSP, Maureen Burke MP.
Bill Stark
I was delighted that the community turned out in good numbers.
Whitehill Swimming club was well represented – good that the meeting got the chance to hear from another one of the young swimmers willing to stand up and speak out, in addition to those in the previous videos.
Temple Swimming Club planned to have two representatives in attendance, but had to call off at last minute dur to personal reasons. Irene Lochrin was unable to attend as she was committed to the club training session at Tollcross.
A number of members from the local community spoke in some detail of the impact of the facility closure has had on their physical and mental health.
Also happy that good numbers turned out from GCC (although only one being David McEwan), Glasgow Life (Andrew Olney, Alan Milner, Scott Faichney) and elected members (Cllr Alan Casey, Cllr Anthony Carroll, MSP Ivan McKee, MSP John Mason, MSP Patrick Harvie).
MSP Paul Sweeney unable to attend but submitted his input.
The meeting gave all of those above, in positions of power, something to go away and think about as lots of people spoke out making a number of great points and challenges. It illustrated the strength of feeling that still exists within the local community and there is a will for another campaign.
The Whitehill Pool situation is something that can’t be ignored – they need to come up with a plan. Difficulty will be funding and when?
The next public meeting will be used to gather comments, ideas and to form a new Campaign Working Group. The pressure needs to be sustained.
So really the meeting was the important first step for a new Save Whitehill Pool Campaign 2025 on a new journey.
Thank you for organising this meeting (and keeping this topic on the table for years!). Wasn’t able to stay until right at the end but looking forward to watch video/ read minutes to learn how to support initiative going forward.
I was disappointed and surprised at the lack of female councillors at this important meeting.