THE furious group of volunteers trying to take over Chard's Cresta Swimming Pool have hit back at the council's sudden announcement this morning.

Somerset County Council revealed that it would not accept the Kingfisher Community Pool (KCP) group's business plan.

Now, the KCP chair of trustees, John Phillips, has provided an angry rebuttal to every part of the council announcement.

It is included in full below.

The Somerset County Council press release can be seen in bold text, and John Phillips responses are in italics.

The authority recognises the ambition, efforts and intentions of the group and the enthusiasm shown by the local community. Before transferring any asset to a community group the Council has a responsibility to carry out due diligence checks and be satisfied that the transfer can happen without a risk to the public.

There would be no risk to the public as it would be obliged to operate within the law.

Officers reviewed two earlier drafts of the business plan, with support from finance and legal specialists, and provided feedback to the group.

Nonsense. There was no feedback given to ANY of the draft business plans. The feedback was on Version 1 of the plan and was too late for a proper risk assessment of pool to be made AND lack of access to the pool.

The final business case was considered in great detail and assessed on principles of feasibility, viability and sustainability.

Detailed reasons for the council’s position are being provided to the group’s representatives, but hinge on concerns about optimistic predictions of costs and income, a lack of contingency, unrealistic estimates regarding insurance costs and unclear plans for repairs and maintenance.

There has been a complete failure on the council’s part to provide any information on past revenue, pool attendance and utility costs. This on a business that has been in operation for 30 years. It is symptomatic of a failing council that does not even know what is happening on the property it owns. WHAT HAPPENED TO DUE DILIGENCE AND RISK AWARENESS!

The pool, which is owned by the Council, has outlived its planned lifespan by more than a decade and now needs more than £1m of investment to replace failing equipment and to bring it up to standard.

The council has not provided itemised costing of this figure with required competitive quotes. DUE DILIGENCE??

Where did that figure come from and was it provided by an impartial party?

Due to significant financial pressures the Council is not in a position to fund this work.

A decision taken in August allowed time for the community to come forward with a fully-costed and workable business case for transferring the pool to community ownership while ensuring the safety of all visitors.

There is no risk to the public as any pool has to operate within the law. NO FUNDING was being asked of the council and it would seem that the council would rather spend council tax payers’ money on decommissioning and demolishing the pool.

Councillor David Hall, Somerset County Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Planning and Community Infrastructure, said: “We were keen to see the community proposals work and our decision not to accept the business case in is no way a reflection on the effort that has been put into this.

What a patronising meaningless statement made in an attempt to make the council look competent. A council that is hurtling into bankruptcy blaming others for its woes and has the gall to pass advice on the ability to handle contingency and risk management.

“But, as a responsible organisation, we have to carry out due diligence. Unless we are completely satisfied that the transfer could happen without risk to the public we cannot not let it go ahead. It has to be feasible, viable and sustainable – and, unfortunately, we do not believe that is the case.

The council by its own admission does not know how to run a swimming pool so how can it pass judgement on others. A pool would not be allowed to operate in law without proper measures in place. NO ACCESS was given to us to make a detailed risk assessment as required by any insurance company.

“Officers have provided support and guidance, given all the information they were able to give and sign-posted the group to where other information could be found.

HOW and WHERE??

“We have invested considerable time and effort, but unfortunately what we cannot invest is money. Providing leisure facilities is not a County Council responsibility and in these very difficult financial times we just cannot afford the costs of keeping this pool open.”

Looks like repetitive statements. The council had the authority to garner the information on historic income and utilities costs for the swimming pool. There was a complete lack of co-operation on access to the pool during the whole process.