Polo Players,
The consultation around the potential closure of Coventry 50m pool is a real issue for our sport. Whilst we are endeavouring to play more outside we will continue to need access to suitable facilities including large pools.
I am aware that this is not the only pool under threat of closure. Therefore I thought might be useful to get an idea of the scale of this risk around the country so that I can appropriately brief the BCU and Canoe England.
I think the most appropriate way to deal with this is on a few fronts. Therefore I would encourage individuals, teams and clubs to do all they can to defend facilities through whatever consultation mechanisms are available. For Coventry please see – http://www.covsport.org.uk/
I will provide a position statement from the Canoe Polo Committee and subsequently ask for our National Governing Bodies to provide their perspective.
Whilst I appreciate some Local Authorities may intend to replace old pools with newer facilities our experience is that these are smaller and generally unaffordable.
Therefore if you know or suspect that a venue we use for polo is under threat please send me a short e mail explaining what you know and the timescales (we generally are planning 2 years ahead).
I appreciate some of this may be conjecture currently however as local authorities budgets reduce this will become a reality threatening polo development. Having a better knowledge of the situation allows us to take a more proactive defence of the venues we currently utilise.
E mail to – dave.rawding@canoepolo.org.uk
Dave Rawding
Chair CPC