East Sussex swimming pool set to be saved from closure following successful resident-led petition

The centre’s future beyond this summer was being decided by a public consultation held by the two councils – who own the building.

Following the recent closure to Heathfield's swimming pool last year, residents in Uckfield feared their centre may face the same fate. This led to Uckfield Town councillor Daniel Manvell starting a petition to save the pool from closure as he believed the site is a ‘valuable resource to the community’.

According to councillor Manvell, an agreement has been reached between East Sussex County Council and Wealden District Council for a new 19-year lease on the building, keeping the Leisure Centre open.

Mr Manvell wrote on Facebook: “Over 3300 people filled in the consultation, shouting loud and clear that we wanted to keep our leisure centre and pool open. I am so pleased to be able to tell you that they listened to us!

“It's an absolutely huge victory for the campaign, which only started in earnest a few months ago.

“I cannot tell you how pleased and relieved I am, both for residents and the staff. I have just been telling the staff at the leisure centre, whose jobs have been on the line. Their patience and dedication has been brilliant at such a difficult time.

“Thank you to everyone who has been involved in the campaign, everyone who filled in the consultation, and who came to the rally. Your support has been immeasurable and I am pleased to say, worthwhile.”

A spokesperson for Wealden District Council told SussexWorld that no lease had been signed as of yet, nor had any contract talks been entered into with the lesiure centre about running the service.

However, the district council did confirm that discussions have been ongoing for some time and were in a very advanced stage, with the final decisions on the centre due on July 11 and 12.

East Sussex County Council currently leases the leisure centre to Wealden District Council and has done since 2002.

In October 2020, following a comprehensive leisure provision review, Wealden agreed to hand back the dual use of the leisure centre in Uckfield to the county council at the end of its lease.

Wealden said it did this to remove ‘a layer of bureaucracy in the operation of the centre’ that is predominately run to serve Uckfield Community College.

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An East Sussex County Council spokesperson said: “We are working in collaboration with Wealden District Council and a proposal to offer a 19-year lease will shortly be considered.”

As well as the petition, councillor Manvell also hosted a rally in March at the swimming pool to ‘save the leisure centre’.

At the time, he said: “The petition is an expression of how unhappy we are about the current decision that is being made. It also has an inevitability that it is going to close. So the petition is to get people feeling like they are doing something.

“The more people, we can get along in person to our rally, the more emails we can get sent to the WDC councillors in charge of making the decision, those are the ways we are going to have a lot of impact.”