The Aberdeen Beach Leisure Centre and Bucksburn Swimming Pool will close forever after nearly £700,000 worth of funding was cut by Aberdeen City Council.
Sport Aberdeen, the arms-length organisation which runs 20 sports facilities for the council, confirmed the closures yesterday following crisis talks on Wednesday evening.
The organisation said it had "reluctantly accepted" that the facilities would have to cease operations after the council’s SNP and Liberal Democrat ruling group pushed through a £687,000 reduction in its grant.
Sport Aberdeen chairman, Tony Dawson, said: “In December last year, our Managing Director Alistair Robertson met with council co-leaders, the chief executive and service directors and was informed of the financial pressures facing local government across Scotland.
"As a council-owned company, it was inevitable that Sport Aberdeen was invited to be part of the discussion and asked what it could do to help the council in this most difficult of circumstances.
“Given the scale of financial challenge, coupled with energy price increases, it was made clear that in the event of a significant funding reduction we would be unable to sustain all the services and facilities we operate.
“Both parties reluctantly accepted that in such a circumstance it would be necessary to cease the operation of Beach Leisure Centre and Bucksburn Swimming Pool, and base future provision at the remaining leisure assets in the city."
Work to 'minimise impact'
Mr Dawson added: “We are already working to minimise the impact on our customers and staff as best we can and I have requested that our managing director investigate, as a priority, the feasibility of increasing access at Dyce Academy swimming pool. It would be our intention to move as many of our lessons there as possible to meet the significant demand that exists.
“Our immediate priority has been to reassure staff that their jobs are safe and that everyone will be offered roles at our other venues. We are in the process of contacting our valued customers to make them aware of our other facilities where they can continue to get active.”
New beach facilities planned
Cllr Alex Nicoll, Aberdeen City Council co-leader, said the beach centre had reached the end of its life and that new facilities were planned.
“It is well known that the Beach Leisure Centre is at the end of its lifecycle, which is why we are planning for a new facility as part of the Beachfront Master Plan," he said.
"The leisure pool closed last year due to a combination of rising energy costs and problems with the pool plant infrastructure, and it is simply uneconomical to carry on. The council will arrange for the building to be taken down and the site cleared to make way for future developments.”
'Unaffordable' repairs in Bucksburn
In the case of Bucksburn Swimming Pool, in a joint statement Aberdeen City Council and Sport Aberdeen reads: “Unfortunately, there are significant issues with Bucksburn Swimming Pool plant, linked to the age of the facility, which would cost over £400,000 to address.
"In the current environment that is just not feasible. In addition, yesterday the Council confirmed in its 2023/2024 budget a commitment of £13million to expand Bucksburn Academy in order to accommodate an increasing school roll, which means that the site of the pool is needed to create space for additional school buildings.”