[imc-oxford-features] Save Temple Cowley Pools - feature for Indy, under oxford, local politics, anti-cuts...

[Save TCP]

Sorry, forgot to add pic. Let us know if you need something larger.
rgds
Nigel/Jane

On Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 2:58 PM, Save TCP <savetcp at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all:
> We've been asked a number of times to contribute something about this
> long-running campaign; we've finally got around to putting something
> together (inline below, plus attached pic) for the features section.
> Publicity and help/support is more important than ever as the council runs
> up to its next decision point, and we need to get headlines and put as much
> pressure on as possible.
> Thanks
> Nigel & Jane
> Save Temple Cowley Pools Action Group
> http://savetemplecowleypools.webs.com
> savetcp at gmail.com
>
>
> *Saving Temple Cowley Pools – the campaign continues into 2011*
>
> The campaign to keep publicly funded leisure inside the ring road in East
> Oxford is starting its second year; we need support from anyone who cares
> about the health and wellbeing of the citizens of Oxford and how the City
> Council is ignoring the will of its citizens for its own ends.
>
> Over the last year, the Labour-controlled city council in Oxford has been
> pushing through plans to close two leisure centres and replace them with an
> extension onto Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre.
>
> Saving a pool may not be the most obvious cause to mount the barricades,
> but if the pool and gym at Temple Cowley shuts there will be a significant
> impact on the environment as well as the health and well-being of thousands
> of people in Oxford, and the council will continue to feel free to do what
> it likes without any accountability.
>
> Inside nine months the Save Temple Cowley Pools Campaign Group got over
> 11,000 signatures on a petition to keep TCP open. This is the largest ever
> petition in the history of Oxford, and the Council simply ignored it. Why?
>
> There are two reasons – firstly, closing two facilities and opening a new
> one means that the ‘outsourced’ operator, Fusion Lifestyle, can cut their
> costs at the expense of the convenience of the people who regularly use the
> pools and gym for exercise, keeping/maintaining/recovering fitness during
> and after illness as well as a simple leisure activity. Secondly, the
> Council wants to sell the TCP land for student accommodation at Brookes,
> just as it has across East Oxford. And once the pool goes, the land around
> it will be there to build on – watch as the library gets cut, and St
> Christophers School will be under threat again. The Temple Cowley area will
> lose its amenities, and the labour councillors the people voted in to look
> after them will leave East Oxford high and dry.
>
> Well before the new coalition government brought in its package of cuts,
> Labour in Oxford were carrying out their own version – don’t let them join
> any anti-cuts campaign without questioning them over why they are closing
> TCP!
>
> There are many arguments put forward by the Council for closing TCP, all
> fallacy: cost, environment, transport, convenience – they even claim that
> their proposed new 25m pool will meet their aspirations for ‘world class’
> leisure. All these areas are discussed at length on the campaign website –
> http://tiny.cc/savetcp
>
> Temple Cowley Pools needs your help – now! The Council is reviewing its
> budget options in the light of the government cuts – it is obviously cheaper
> to refurbish TCP for £3-6m than destroy it and build a new pool for £8.5m.
> The Council is ringfencing this money and frontline services will be cut
> instead – this is, as someone commented, “madness”. We need to keep the
> pressure up through a variety of means – come along to one of our meetings
> with ideas on how we can defeat the council and stop them wasting yet more
> money, visit the website for information, join us on Twitter, Facebook,
> Yahoo and sign the online petitions at www.tinyurl.com/savetcp2<http://www.tinyurl.com/savetcp23>and
> www.tinyurl.com/savetcp3.
>
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