Labour u-turn on Elephant swimming pool (Southwark Liberal Democrats)

Southwark Liberal Democrats <info@southwark-libdems.org.uk>

Labour u-turn on Elephant swimming pool

July 8, 2010 4:31 PM

A swimming pool as part of the regenerated Elephant and Castle may be back on track as a result of Liberal Democrat action. At last night's Southwark council cabinet, Labour agreed to drop proposals for building leisure centre without a new swimming pool.

The move followed concerted pressure from Liberal Democrat councillors at the Overview and Scrutiny committee that looked in depth at the details of Labour's renegotiated deal with developers, Lend Lease.

Cathedrals Councillor, Geoffrey Thornton, who led the opposition to Labour at the committee said:

"Like most local people we were stunned that Labour were prepared to sign a deal that did not involve a new swimming pool. So this partial victory is good news. "

Lib Dem leader, Councillor Anood Al-Samerai added:

"It's just a shame that the rest of the deal is so bad. Labour's naïve and incompetent negotiations have short changed residents and cost the council millions of pounds."