Cathal Brugha Swimming & Water Polo Club

URGENT - Andersonstown Leisure Centre Closing on 28th May!



Proposed Pool Hall at Andersonstown Leisure Centre

*** Calling all of our water polo and aquatic sports Community - your help is needed urgently! ***

Andersonstown Leisure Centre is to Close on 28th May! - Consultation Closes on Tuesday 14th March......we have 6 days to make ourselves heard!

Although we await formal notification, we have heard from very reputable sources that Andersonstown Leisure Centre will close on 28th May 2017, staff will be dispersed to other working locations by 12th June and that the Centre will be demolished shortly thereafter to make room for a new build leisure centre.

The proposed facility will be dramatically different from the current leisure centre in that the main feature will be an extensive water slide & surfing installation….yes surfing! However, as a swimming & water polo Club our attention is drawn to the 25m x 6 lane pool which is also proposed.

Sadly, the dimensions proposed are for a pool with a fixed shallow end of 0.9m moving to a 2m middle and a 1.6m ‘deep end’. The current pool has a 0.9m shallow end moving to a 2m deep end, so, rather than progress, what is being proposed is even less suitable for water polo than that which we have used for the past 38 years!

To make matters worse, the original design of the new leisure centre proposed a ‘floating floor’ for the 25m pool, which would have given complete programming flexibility, has changed and the floating floor aspect removed to help pay for more slides/surfing facilities.

We cannot change the proposal for a 25m x 6 lane pool but we need the pool to be a 2m deep tank with a floating floor to halfway….as installed at Falls Leisure Centre, and for the 25m pool to be capable of accommodating water polo.

Such a design will permit improved access to water polo, swimming, life-saving etc, it will provide programme opportunities for a wider range of users from toddlers to adult aquarobics, improved access for persons with disabilities, schools or other organised groups. To proceed with a fixed depth shallow ended pool is short sighted in the extreme!

The Councils consultation period ends on Tuesday 14th March so we would encourage everyone to please click on the link below and submit your response supporting the installation of a floating floor, otherwise future generations will have to suffer the inadequacies of a shallow pool at Andersonstown.

Please please do not hesitate….click on this LINK now and take a few minutes to respond to the Council, thank you!

Additionally, you may wish to contact the Chair of the Councils 'People & Communities Committee' is Cllr. Matt Garrett.