THE “pretty awful” state of Barnard Castle’s swimming pool is putting off people from being active – but if you think those facilities are bad you should see Bishop Auckland’s.
That was the message heard at Teesdale Action Partnership’s board meeting but members of the forum were also told investment could be on the cards.
The forum was told how problems blighting Teesdale Leisure Centre, in Strathmore Road, included broken hairdryers, changing rooms without functioning locks and a deteriorating building.
The claims were made in response to a presentation about the work of Active Durham, a partnership which aims to get people fit.
Teesdale Action Partnership board member Wendy Greenfield said this was all well and good but decent facilities need to be in place first.
She added: “We’ve got a swimming pool in Barney. It’s pretty awful. The changing room is foul. Things don’t work. The locks on doors don’t work. If you take someone down there but the fabric of the place is rubbish. That’s what people see and they won’t come back.
“We need to see some improvement from Durham County Council so we have somewhere to go that’s comfortable and warm and you don’t have to lean against the unlocked door to get changed.”
Jeff Garfoot, head of corporate, finance and commercial services at the county council, is a board member of the Teesdale partnership, which acts as a grassroots level for democracy and includes representatives from different organisations.
Mr Garfoot responded to Ms Greenfield’s concerns, saying that Durham still retained a high level of leisure centres per head of population when compared to other areas.
He added: “But many are in a state of disrepair. The worst is Bishop Auckland. They need massive improvements but there is a review taking place into leisure centres.
“There’s a £200million backlog [of repairs] to all of our buildings.”
The outcome of the review may result in a big investment in the centres, he added.
Earlier in the meeting, Grace Crawford explained about her work for Active Durham, which is made up of a number of bodies.
She added: “The figure that makes people sit up and take notice is that the cost of inactivity in our county is £100million every year. “
Ms Crawford said the cost was likely to increase and the challenge of getting people active was huge.
She added: “We are not only talking about sport – it’s about a wide range of activity. It could be gardening, housework, playing with your children or dancing. We’re being ambitious and want everybody to aspire to the chief medical officer’s recommendations for the level of physical activity.”
That’s at least three hours of being active for new-borns to five year olds, 60 minutes a day for five to 18 year olds and at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week for adults. Social media campaigns are planned, alongside working with schools, employers and organisations. “Active friends” would also be recruited to learn about the benefits of exercise and then to spread the word. County councillor Richard Bell said Teesdale’s poor weather for much of the year often made people want to stay indoors.
“The weather is often pretty foul in Teesdale and that’s why people rely on cars. When it’s bad the only people you see out are dog walkers,” he added. He also said people’s reliance on technology was a big part of the problem, adding that he sees people communicating on Skype at Glaxo’s factory in Barnard Castle when they’re only across the room from each other.
Ms Crawford said she hoped that once people got hooked on exercise, they’d be more willing to get out in bad weather.
