Medway Conservative Group and The Rt Hon Kelly Tolhurst MP were delighted to be informed by the Sports Minister Stuart Andrew MP that Hoo Swimming Pool will receive £744,379 from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport as part of the announcement that more than 300 swimming pools are to benefit from £60 million to support their long-term future.
Councillor Adrian Gulvin, Leader of the Opposition Conservative Group said:
"Swimming is vitally important. We made this clear the recent budgetary full council meeting, where the Labour and Co-Operative Group decided to prioritise Councillor Maple’s PR budget rather than back free swimming for our children and senior citizens.
I welcome today’s announcement from the Conservative Government, and thank Rishi Sunak for his continued commitment to Medway."
The Sports Minister Stuart Andrew MP, said:
"We are sticking to our plan to get millions more people active by 2030, because we know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier.
The Government's £40M fund runs alongside an extra £20m Sport England fund which will benefit 325 leisure centres with swimming pools across 264 Local Authorities.”
Rt Hon Kelly Tolhurst MP, Member of Parliament for Rochester and Strood said:
“It's great that Hoo Swimming Pool will be receiving this investment from Government and they have recognised how important Hoo Swimming Pool is to our community, like many local people it's the pool where I learnt to swim and an important community asset.
This is great news however, it is just very disappointing that the Labour-Run Medway Council has recently decided to scrap free swimming for under 16s and over 60s effective from the 1st April.
I along with Tracey Crouch MP and Rehman Chishti MP wrote to the council asking them to rethink their plan back in February. Funding for swimming had always been a priority to protect under local conservatives adminstrations. Sadly the Labour Council prioritised this funding for other projects such as ANPR cameras and red routes.
