Stourport Riverside Paddling Pool

Report by treasurer 25 March 2024

Background

1. Responsibility for operation of the paddling pool was transferred from Wyre Forest District Council (WFDC) to the Town Council under an early part of WFDC’s localism strategy around 7 years ago.

2. The Town Clerk and her staff have worked very hard to make a success of the pool. There have been many issues to resolve and then, of course, there was the pandemic. The 2023 season, however, was very successful with the pool only being out of action for one day in a 15-week 7-days-a-week season. By popular demand the opening period for the pool was extended by one week into the first week of September which, unusually, turned out to be the best weather of the summer.

3. The paddling pool provides a simple and joyful summer experience for young children, and their parents, that is not available elsewhere. It increases the confidence that young children have in water in preparation for learning to swim. It also increases their confidence in being with other children.

4. GoAqua take samples of the water twice a day when they open and close the pool. A sample of the water is tested every week at their laboratory. In addition, water samples are taken, and tested, a further twice during the middle part of the day by a contractor named Heather Day. The way in which the pool currently operates changes/filters all the water in the pool every 4 hours. There has been no suggestion that the water quality has caused any issue for any pool user.

The Issue

5. New guidance re pool safety came into effect in September 2023. The company that services our paddling pool, GoAqua, have informed us that our current equipment and method of operation does not comply with the latest guidance. They have provided quotations to supply improvements that would enable the pool to comply with this latest guidance. There are two different options but the cost is around the £50,000 mark (further detail provided below).

6. In relation to a different aspect of the pool, the Town Council has set aside £35,000 in its budget for the complete resurfacing of the pool. The intention has been to complete this work in the next couple of months prior to the opening of the 15-week 2024 paddling pool season. It has now emerged that the replacement of the pump at a quoted cost of £4,800 is probably an even higher priority than the resurfacing work. The current pump was a temporary replacement installed by GoAqua for the 2023 season and there is a significant risk that it would not last the 2024 season. It is emphasised that neither the resurfacing nor the pump have anything to do with compliance with the latest guidance.

7. Finance Committee need to recommend to the Town Council a way forward comprising all, some or none of the improvements described above.

New pool safety guidance

8. The new guidance is that all the water should be changed/filtered every 2 hours. This guidance is, however, not statutory. It is supplied by the Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group (PWTAG) and applies not just to small paddling pools but to all swimming pools. To our knowledge there is no suggestion that this guidance will become statutory any time soon. Even compliance with the new guidance does not, of course, offer any guarantees that there are no risks to user safety.

9. If members decide that compliance with the new guidance is the way forward they need to be aware that it will require roughly doubling the size, and increasing the height, of the building that houses the water tanks. This is because changing/filtering the water every 2 hours necessitates the use of much bigger tanks, pipes etc.. We do not have any estimate of the building cost but it seems reasonable to assume that it would take the cost of either of the options below to around £50,000.

Options for compliance with new guidance

10. GoAqua have suggested two options as follows to enable compliance with new guidance:

Their £45,200 quote is, in their words ‘.. to increase the number of filters to fulfil these guidelines, as close as we can sensibly get it, but there is an issue with space in the plant room..’.

Their £48,000 quote is for a completely new system. It is called a Daisy System. GoAqua say that ‘..in a nutshell, once up and running the plant room can be monitored remotely and chemical dosing will be at a minimum therefore saving on chemical costs…’.

11. Either option would require a considerable outlay for which we currently have no budgetary provision. The second option is very ‘state-of-the-art’ making use of artificial intelligence. It appears more attractive because it will provide material savings on running costs and so the outlay would, on the face of it, be recovered – we would need more information to say what the payback period would be. Our understanding, however, is that the Daisy System is not yet ‘live’ in any UK location. Even if members are interested in this option I don’t think they would want to approve it without reassurance from another UK location that it is operating successfully and economically.

12. One of the ways of resolving the ‘..no budgetary provision..’ position is to start making budgetary provision so as to ‘save up’ for the required funds.

13. The insurance position is relevant to this matter. Our insurance policy includes the following wording:

Important information

Taking reasonable care

We require that you take reasonable care in managing your activities. Where appropriate this requires you to do the following:

Keep written risk assessments for your key activities
Keep written records of your staff and volunteer training. For example, manual handling training, or for use of tools and machinery
Abide by any rules, guidelines or advice that is given to you by any relevant authority, such as a Local Authority, or the Health and Safety Executive.

I feel that this merits discussion, possibly very brief, at your meeting.

Decisions for the Town Council

14. Finance Committee need to advise the Town Council re the following:

Will the paddling pool open this summer?
Will/should the pump be replaced in time for the 2024 season? – the 2024/ 25 budget does include £4,000 for ‘Stourport Riverside – contribution to renewal fund’ – this could be used. The remaining £800 would fall to be met from balances/reserves/underspendings on other budgets
Will/should the resurfacing work be carried out in time for the 2024 season? – the £35,000 required is in the budget but members may possibly want to reconsider their options
Will the Town Council be satisfied that, though not complying with the latest PWTAG guidance, the water quality achieved by the pool’s current mode of operation is high enough?
Will the Town Council want to make an ‘in-principle’ commitment to compliance with the new guidance when sufficient funds can be saved up and when the new system can be proven to be operating successfully and economically in another UK location?
If the possibility of saving up funds is supported, would Finance Committee want to go as far as setting aside £10,000 a year?

15. In making the decisions set out above, Finance Committee may want to consider how their decisions fit with the deliberations thus far of the High Street Task Force.

Graham Shaw

Treasurer

March 2024