Doncaster set for new swimming pool this year

Hundreds of school pupils are set to take the plunge after plans for a new Doncaster swimming pool were agreed.
Sara Pegden and Sue Fynney who want to open a new swimming pool in Doncaster on Wheatley Hall RoadSara Pegden and Sue Fynney who want to open a new swimming pool in Doncaster on Wheatley Hall Road
Sara Pegden and Sue Fynney who want to open a new swimming pool in Doncaster on Wheatley Hall Road

Swimming school Go Swimstars has been told it can go ahead with its plans to build a new pool on an industrial estate near Doncaster town centre.

Now managers at the organisation are hoping to have the new facility at Quest Park industrial estate, off Wheatley Hall Road, up and running by April so that they can run swimming lessons for 19 schools in the borough who have said they want to use it

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Director Sarah Pegden said she expected the pool to be completed by the end of March, now that planning permission is in place.

She said after the meeting: "We've got 19 primary schools, all from Doncaster, wanting to use it. We need to get the pool installed and filled and the heating put in. We expect work to get it up and running to take six weeks from start to finish."

Doncaster Council planning officers had been concerned about access arrangements to the pool, with it being on an industrial estate with limited parking. But the borough's planning committee rejected advice to refuse planning permission, and supported the plans for the pool.

Councillors on the committee said they did not think there was a safety issue. School groups would be brought to the pool by minibus, and private swimming lessons would be run after 5pm when the industrial estate was quiet.

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They asked for conditions to be put in place to make sure children could not run out of the building by installing a barrier inside.

Ms Pegden told councillors the plans had support from Business Doncaster and health officials, and around 450 children were lined up to use the facility.

"We want to build a bespoke swimming pool where children can learn a lifesaving skill," she said. "Managers will supervise access, and all children would be arriving with adults."

Doncaster central ward councillor John McHale had also spoken in support of the scheme and pointed out that there were many examples of facilities used by children operating from industrial estates, including Astrabound in Wheatley, and added the council recently agreed to a children's soft plan area at an industrial estate in Thorne.

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Go Swimstars is run by mum and daughter Susan Fynney and Sara Pegden,

The pool would be 14m by 6.5m in size, and would be raised from the ground, rather than sunk into the floor as is conventional, with access via steps.

Go Swimstars hopes to open similar facilities in other towns, and hopes to open one in Bawtry in the future.