On Tuesday Medway's Conservative Cabinet agreed a proposal for the first phase of a programme to replace Splashes Leisure Centre. Astonishingly following this decision, Medway Labour has decided to 'call-in' the decision on spurious grounds designed to delay and ultimately wreck the project
At the Cabinet Council Deputy Leader Councillor Doe explained options from the design proposals which aim at producing a “child-friendly facility and incorporating a gym and informal style swimming pool with a flume”. He explained there is an option which will “develop it as a carbon neutral building.” Further to this it was made absolutely transparent that a start date for the new centre would be provided as soon as possible as there is “a lot of work to do on the capital project and you don’t just, maybe the opposition does,….spend £20m or something of that order without going into all cost limits and seeing how we can make (the project) as revenue productive as possible.”
It could not have been made any clearer that the Conservatives are going to go ahead with this project. Councillor Doe was explicit in his commitment to the project and for Medway Labour to say they don’t know what we plan to do following demolition is irresponsible and incorrect. In case there is any doubt, the following statement was made yesterday afternoon that will provide clarity:
“what I’ll (Councillor Doe) also do, is to make it very, very clear that there is no doubt about our intentions and that’s why we’re asking Cabinet to rename the project “Splashes Replacement” so no one but a fool could see we’re actually going to go ahead with this project at a pace… As far as I’m concerned, I’d like to see the evidence for somebody saying we’re not going to rebuild this swimming pool, because that is our intention. We know that we are a child-friendly city. We want to be as child-friendly as we can, this is very much a facility for all of Rainham’s young people that we ought to be proud of and will be proud of when we see it coming out of the ground. We will get on with it and I will not be delayed by these ridiculous assertions which have no basis in truth.”
Leader of the Council, Councillor Alan Jarrett went on to comment that “we will allocate whatever funding it takes” and “we have done all we promised”. Medway Labour is continuing to circulate baseless lies and they should be held to account for their spread of misinformation.
