Pool protest will attract hundreds

Nov 16 2009 by Alison Rennie, Paisley Daily Express

HUNDREDS of campaigners will stage a high-profile protest tonight in a bid to sink controversial plans to close two swimming pools.

Members of the Johnstone and Elderslie Save our Swimming Pools (JESS) campaign have organised the protest, which will take place outside Johnstone Town Hall.

Around 400 people are expected to turn up with banners and placards to make their feelings clear to councillors and officials who will attend a meeting of the Johnstone and Villages Local Area Committee.

Renfrewshire Council announced in June that it plans to close Elderslie and Johnstone swimming pools and build new facilities at Johnstone High School and in Linwood.

The closure proposals are part of a £92million shake-up of education and leisure services across the Paisley area.

And council chiefs insist the new facilities will be good for communiies in both Johnstone and Elderslie.

But the plans have caused outrage, with protesters from JESS claiming the closures will destroy Elderslie and Johnstone town centres, affect businesses and cause problems for people who rely on public transport.

Lorraine Brown, JESS secretary, said: “We’re expecting a lot of people to turn up for this protest. People are very upset about these plans, so we think we’ll get a strong turnout.

“We’re going to present our alternative to the council’s closure plans at the meeting. We want to keep the two pools open but refurbish and modernise them and also install dry sports facilities at Johnstone High School. We’re quite confident we can get that done under the budget the council has outlined.

“The council have indicated that they don’t like our proposals and they don’t like the costings but we think they were going to say that in any case.

“We’ve also asked for £500 worth of funding from the Johnstone and Villages Local Area Committee to help us meet our running costs, so we’ll be interested to hear if we get that.”

An online petition launched by JESS has been signed by hundreds of people who are angry at the council’s plans.

Their campaign has also been backed by Johnstone and Elderslie community councils, with funding and support coming from both.

Lorraine added: “We want to see as many people as possible tonight. A lot of people are upset at these plans and it is important they make their feelings known. As far as we’re concerned, it’s a case of ‘the more, the merrier’.

Anyone wanting to go along to tonight’s demonstration is asked to gather outside the main entrance to Johnstone Town Hall at 6pm.