Expired Ideas

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  • 89 score
    89 voters

    Buy Queens Leisure Centre (Gala Pool)

    Submitted 2 years ago by Ana Smith
    Expired
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    4comments
    Queen's closure leaves the uni swim club without a home. The new pool in Allenton has no decent bus routes and will likely increase membership costs. Buying the pool will attract more scholars to Derby and allow more water-based clubs like Scuba, Waterpolo, Synchro. Students could also be employed in the building. Queens is in the centre of town local to all accommodation and access to lots of Derby residents who can't travel to the new pool. The 100year old roof is protected. INVEST SAVE SWIM!
Toby Arnold
12:20am on 21 Jan 22 I think this is a great idea for all the reasons outlined. The university currently has many great sports facilities but we are currently lacking our own pool and will be lacking a pool that is accessible to students when the queens street closure goes ahead- something that would certainly put me off the university if I was applying in the future. I think it is really important that Queens is saved in order to attract the best water sports talent to our uni. The fact students could also staff the pool would also be an excellent selling point for prospective students. As a student ambassador I get to speak with a lot of potential future students and many of them see employment opportunities whilst studying at uni as being very important.
Suzy Stevenson
10:49am on 21 Jan 22 Comment submitted anonymously by a student to add to the debate: "I'm going to be honest, I don't think it's worth the university buying it. The reason it's being closed is due to it costing more to repair it than the build the new complex. The purchase would come at a time when the university is not only building the new business school, but has to remove cladding from cathedral court and rehouse the student living there. On top of this there are plans in the works to level Peter Hilton and rebuild a new accommodation there so I just don't see it to be viable for the uni to buy it. And while membership would have to go up they could be reduced with fundraising and working in partnership with local business and the council."
Ana Smith
3:48pm on 23 Jan 22 Unfortunately, the membership cost to the club is not the only issue the club would face as the location of the new pool is in Allenton a 10minute drive from the accommodation area and a 40minuate bus journey with 2 changes and a 10-minute walk. This will be extremely off-putting to freshers, most of whom don't have cars and won't know others on the team and discourage people from joining in combination with the likely rising membership fee. When most of the clubs are located within the town area. Whilst yes Queens is closing because of maintenance issues, these are largely part isolated to other areas of the building which are already closed off. Although there are maintenance issues with the gala pool it is in the best position to be fixed. Its historical value and location within the city make it a key location for health and fitness in Derby that simply needs investment.
Beth Baxtrem
12:54pm on 14 Feb 22 As this idea reached our thresh hold for discussion, we have now reviewed this as Union Executive team . This idea has been taken to the University and Head of Sport and is on the agenda for a Sports Council meeting in the coming weeks to discuss where we go next and what the possibilities are with regards to purchasing Queens Leisure Centre and transport options for Moorways.