It seems every town has its own issues with Swimming pools and Lesiure centres in Lanarkshire at the moment.
In East Kilbride, works continue to get the Dolan baths renovated, a petition is circulating to renovate the Hamilton Water Palace and another petition in Larkhall trying to improve their new leisure centre, even before its built!
Here in Blantyre, we have our own problems with a significant rise in the number of complaints and messages received about the Blantyre Sports Centre facility in the last year especially. It’s something our readers want to talk about often and some of the comments put to us behind the scenes are a cause for concern.
“I visited last night and it took me 10 mins to locate a locker in the wet changing area which had a key and was able to lock”, said one local man.
“The smell from the drains is really offensive in the changing area and this seems to have been the case for years.”
Another person told us, “I’m being rushed out of the changing rooms in the evenings with not enough time to change just because staff are in a rush to get out, despite still being within opening hours.”
Another told us, “The floor of the pool and the pool drains are also disgusting. On raising this I was advised the pool hoover has been out of action for over a month.”
Then there’s the staff shortages resulting in people being turned away and short notice temporary closures. One resident who lives outside Blantyre told us, “My usual pool is getting renovated just now, so I’m using Blantyre’s. I turned up within normal hours only to find a sign up saying the pool is closed due to staff shortages. A wasted trip and time out my day. Why can’t this be advertised on a website?”
Having used the facility ourselves often, the overall cleanliness of the facility has significantly deteriorated over the last few years, perhaps due to the age of the fittings.
Blantyre is apparently NEXT to have a new Sports Centre, once the new £23m sports centre is built in Larkhall, but there’s been no official press release. In a climate of cuts, that’s a major worry and we Blantyre residents deserve better. A guarantee and timescale set out!
Today we’re asking you to have your say about Blantyre Sports Centre. What issues are there? How can they be fixed? We appreciate this is an old facility and in need of repair with no budget to do so but there are certainly quick fixes which would alleviate customers complaints. We would also urge Kim Morrison the SLLC CEO to have a look through the comments and why not come down with the executive leadership team to Blantyre Sports Centre and engage with customers directly. Staff are working hard for the best part….and they need support. If it’s clear to us that they’re ‘fire fighting’ issues on a daily basis, it must be frustrating for them and clear to other members!
