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St Annes pool to close despite vote result
10:56am Friday 2nd May 2008
A parish poll on the closure of St Annes swimming pool saw thousands of voters demand the council keep it open.
The question on the ballot paper was Do you demand Fylde Borough Council keep the St. Annes swimming pool open and operational?'.
The result was 3040 voting yes, only 15 no votes and three rejected papers, with turnout among the 23,000 voters was 14.1 per cent.
The poll was called after a parish meeting was held by six ratepayers on the electoral roll.
The yes campaign was led by St Annes resident Bill Whitehead, who was among the first to cast his vote yesterday.
In response to the parish poll, leader of Fylde Borough Council, Councillor John Coombes, said: "This is the result we were expecting due to the open nature of the question asked at the poll and I fully agree that in an ideal world the pool in St Anne's should be kept open passed the July 31.
"However this is simply not possible within the budget and I am afraid the decision to close the pools will remain unless an organisation can come forward with a suitable plan, and funding, to take it over."
"In order for the council to maintain the operation of the pool a council tax increase of over £30 per household each year would be required. For many this is simply not possible or acceptable.
"Instead the council has pledged to work hard to find an alternative long-term solution for a pool in partnership with the private sector. In the mean time there are plenty of excellent swimming facilities on the doorstep of the St Anne's pool."
Your Say YourCitizen
st annes resident, says...
11:36am Fri 2 May 08
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Campaigner Bill Whitehead at the poll
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colin stott, st annes says...
2:39pm Sat 3 May 08
now this project has finished where is the money going.
use it for the pool.
the councillor should reperesent the people and not do what they please.
for example no one wanted the square revitalising.
look at the waste of money on the roads to calm the traffic all there is now is congestion and no one uses the cycle lanes they ride on the pavement etc etc.
in any other job the people responsible would be sacked.
and as for the 14.1 turnout a lot of people myself included did not get a voting card even though i registered to vote by mail!!!!