The swimming pool at Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Centre has been closed since December 2019 due to water leaks affecting the concrete and causing tiles to lift off.
Early in 2020, as building owner, the County Borough Council commissioned a number of surveys to try to find the root cause of the issue. Once the Council were told what work needed to take place, Wellbeing@Merthyr (Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Trust) – which leases the centre from the Council – made the Council aware of their plans to potentially redevelop the entire leisure centre, including the pools.
In the meantime, the first national lockdown in March severely hampered the work in creating a tools and equipment shortage. Also, further structural issues which had not previously been known about were discovered at the pools, and much more investigatory work required than originally thought.
What began as removing the tiles from the floor of the main pool became removal of all tiles in all pools and all the surrounding areas. Industrial ‘dryers’ were brought in, as the concrete sub-base was found to be waterlogged, and there were three to four months of drying – which is now completed. There is ongoing work to agree the level of refurbishment that can take place.
The Council and Wellbeing@Merthyr are working together with a professional leisure facilities developer to focus primarily on redesigning the wet side area. We will be meeting today (June 24), and as soon as those plans are complete, we will be making them available for consultation.
Wellbeing@Merthyr Chief Executive Jane Sellwood said: “While the pool is closed, we’re encourage residents to use Aberfan and Merthyr Vale Community Centre pool, where we have welcomed back Merthyr Swim Club, Merthyr Tri Club, and individual and group swimming lessons, as well as Aqua Aerobics and Aqua Tots sessions.
“We launched the under-16s Free Swim initiative with Active Merthyr on May 31 and have seen over 300 young people access the pool through the scheme since then. We’ll be launching a similar initiative for over-60s soon.
“While we understand how very disappointing it is to have the pool at the Leisure Centre closed for this extended period, we want nothing more than to get it back up and running in a condition that is safe and accessible to all.”
Council Leader Cllr Lisa Mytton said: “We know how frustrated the residents of Merthyr Tydfil are about not being able to use the pool for such a long period. But it’s been an incredibly complex problem that both the Council and Wellbeing@Merthyr have spent considerable time and effort trying to resolve.
“We ask you to please bear with us because we are doing our best to get the pools open again as soon as we can.”
