Swimming pool to reopen after repairs to faulty floor

Newry swimming pool will reopen to the public on Wednesday, more than a year after it closed for repairs to its faulty movable floor.

The council-owned facility, which was built 10 years ago, was the subject of "major refurbishment works" which took twice as long as expected to complete.

The pool floor had to be dug up in order to fix a hydraulic ram - a water pump that allows the depth of the pool to be raised or lowered for different activities.

All floor tiles in the pool and changing areas were replaced, creating what Newry, Mourne and Down Council described as "essentially an entirely new pool hall".

However, the council declined to answer questions from BBC News NI about how much the repairs have cost or who is picking up the bill.

Its spokeswoman said some matters relating to the pool were "discussed in closed session" as they were "deemed to be restricted" under the Local Government Act.

The pool building cost £9m to construct and was officially opened in March 2015.

The closure, which began in February 2024, was initially expected to last about six months.

"There were tiles starting to lift from under the pool, both the large pool and the smaller one," Newry councillor Aidan Mathers told BBC News NI.

"They would've had to do investigations to try and find out what was causing the tiles to come loose.

"So that's what prolonged the length of time it took to get us to where we are today."

The Sinn Féin councillor said the year-long closure of the pool was a "big loss to the area" but he welcomed the reopening as a positive development.

"It's our job now to make sure that it doesn't happen again and we will be keeping the officials' feet to the fire in all of this."

The extended closure meant Newry Swimming and Water Polo Club was unable to compete in the 2024/25 swimming season.

Up until last year, the club had about 100 members aged from six to 16.

"We did have quite a healthy club and our lanes were busy. We actually couldn't squeeze anyone else in," head coach Lucy Cumming told BBC News NI.

But she said the club has not been able to function since last summer because of the lack of alternative training facilities.

"Some of our swimmers and water polo players were selected for Ireland - for Irish teams at the time - so they instantly had nowhere to train," Ms Cumming said.

When they first realised it would be an extensive closure, the coach "started phoning every aquatic facility between Drogheda and Belfast".

She managed to secure a few hours a week in Kilkeel pool, about 20 miles from Newry, but it had shortened lanes due to problems with its own hydraulic floor.

So the club's members had to travel over the border to Dundalk to access to a 25m pool.

But at €30 (£25) per lane per hour, plus the price of travelling to Dundalk, the costs could not be sustained long-term by volunteer coaches.

With no regular training facilities, the club had to stop collecting membership fees.

Ms Cumming said many swimmers joined other clubs while some children quit the sport altogether.

As difficult as it was to secure regular swimming lanes, it proved impossible to find a pool to accommodate Newry's water polo players.

Among those who lost out was 14-year-old Stella from Newry, who has played water polo for both Ulster and Ireland at youth level.

"We were going to matches without any training," Stella said, explaining that she and some of her teammates attended national competitions without any practice.

"It was quite difficult because we had lost a lot of our tactics and not swimming - not everyone was up to standard.

"We were getting beaten by a lot of teams."

The teenager said her own performance declined significantly during the closure.

"You can see how you've fallen from where you were to then not having a pool," she said.

"I'm still playing for Ulster but I'm not on the Ireland team anymore because obviously I haven't been training and I've been a different level than everyone else."

But Stella and her coach both said they were very much looking forward to Newry pool reopening and meeting up with the club's members again.

In an update last September, the council said an estimated 120 tonnes of tiles, screed and building materials had to be removed to repair the hydraulic floor.

Mathers visited the site twice to satisfy himself "that the work that was being done was to the highest standard".

"I worked in building sites so I understood the extent of work that had to be done – sub-floors were lifted and replaced, which is quite an ask," he said.

"I'd be confident that we'll not be talking about the closure of the pool again."

Mathers did not know the cost but said he believed it would have been taken into account when the council struck its rate for this financial year.

BBC News NI has been trying to get details of the repair costs since last September.

In a statement this week, the council said: "Some additional matters in relation to Newry swimming pool were discussed in closed session at council as they were deemed to be restricted by virtue of Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 6 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014."

It added that "information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the council holding that information) and the public may by resolution be excluded during this item of business".

"Therefore, the council cannot comment further at this stage."