Damage to Ashburton Swimming Pool sparks urgent repairs

A community swimming pool in south Devon is undergoing repairs due to significant damage.

Ashburton Swimming Pool said contractors identified “lots of cracks” at the deep end of the pool, causing the wall to shift and leak.

Ms Wood said the community pool has spent more than £50,000 on an “extensive rebuild of the deep end wall”.

Chair of trustees Lucy Wood said due to the issue, they lost between 1,200 and 1,800 litres of water a day last year which had been a “big cost”.

“It is quite a significant leak that has added on a huge cost,” she said.

“Every cubic meter we lost in water we have had to replace, heat and balance it with chemicals.

“That has been a really big challenge for us for the last couple of years since discovering these significant leaks.”

Trustees called in a national swimming pool leak team to investigate and after digging behind the cracked wall, they found the damage was more extensive than they originally anticipated.

She said once the repairs were complete and there were no further leaks, they needed to heat the water and balance the chemicals which can take up to three weeks.

She said the safety of their visitors was “paramount”.

The pool is run by volunteers after it was taken over by the local community in 2016. Ever since has been supported and funded by the people of Ashburton.

Ms Wood said the funding has been “vital”, adding Ashburton Town Council also gave money to contribute towards this year’s repairs.

“Without the community support, the pool doesn’t exist, and it wouldn’t be able to open,” she said.

“The pool has to be used, it’s a use it or lose it. We love to see people swimming in there.”