Tunstall Community Pool - Business Plan Submitted, Stoke-on-Trent City Council Feedback

The past few weeks have been very busy for the Tunstall Community Pool Group, with Richard, John and Paula piecing together the business plan to hand over to Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

The council now have in their possession the draft business plan for a community project in which the pool is ran as a business for and by the people of Tunstall and Stoke-on-Trent, rather than Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

Tunstall Pool closed back in March 2011, ending Tunstall's Pool history of being the countries oldest Victorian working swimming pool.

Now that the business plan is in the council's hands we now get closer to the two possible outcomes.

The first: The worst possible outcome is that Tunstall Pool remains closed and another vital part of Tunstall becomes redundant. Or the outcome that so many people are depending on, that Stoke-on Trent City Council see the merit of the recently submitted Tunstall Community and back its proposals.

The second: The Business Plan, which proposes that rather than Stoke-on-Trent City Council run the pool, a community group will form a board to oversee qualified staff running Tunstall Pool as a non-profit making community facility.

Previous to submitting the plan, the group made contact with a number of business leaders in the area including leisure industry leader Mo Chaudry to help to refine , scrutinise and also add some real world advice to the group.

Stoke on Trent City Council have now read the business plan, they have complimented its content stating

this business plan is one of the more comprehensive plans the Sports and Leisure Team have received to date.

However the Council have raised some concerns over some aspects of the business plan, and have entered a dialogue with the group to now discuss and iron out some of the finer points of the plan prior to issuing the final business plan to the Council Directors for approval.

One of the Councils main worries is the amount of working capital that the group currently has. Major grant funding can’t be applied for until the group has obtained a minimum lease term of 20 years.

To countermand this we are hoping to raise £70,000 from the community of Stoke-on-Trent’s business leaders and public through donations and through fund raising events.

The Tunstall Community Pool Group would now like to hear from the public their thoughts about the pool and would ask them to answer a simple and confidential questionnaire over on The Tunstall Community Pool website

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