NAAS, 28 June 2001: by Brian Byrne. A £4.8 million project to completely rebuild Naas Swimming Pool (above) was outlined to Naas UDC last night by architects retained by Kildare County Council. The plan, expected to be implemented from the end of this year, involves the complete demolition of the current pool premises and will take two years to complete.
According to architect Mark Featherstone, the new pool complex will include a 25-metre pool, a jacuzzi/spa, a children’s learner pool, extensive new changing facilities and a gym. The council has applied for a £3.5 million state grant to help fund the project.
The plan effectively short-circuits out of contention a recent suggestion by UDC chairman Pat O’Reilly that the pool be moved to the Caragh Road Sports Centre, allowing the present site to be used for car parking development.
Last night’s meeting was bluntly told that any attempt to seek a new site would endanger the provision of the state grant for the project, as well as involving the UDC in the cost of purchasing a site. In addition, the infrastructure required for servicing the pool is already on the current site, and to develop this on another site could add in excess of another £1m to the costs.
The presentation to the councillors was simply a matter of courtesy to the UDC, as the pool site is on land owned by Kildare County Council, and funding for the new amenity will be under KCC direction.
This fact didn’t deter at least two UDC councillors from demanding that any new pool should be 50 metres long, despite the fact that the Government hasn’t approved any such Olympic-level public pool anywhere in the state. Although the architect was told from the meeting to investigate the 50-metre pool idea, the operating costs of such a pool would not be justified by the limited use by Irish athletes.
Access to the new pool is proposed to be via a new entrance on the Craddockstown Road and car parking has been sized around pool requirements. A number of councillors asked that the car parking area be increased to cater for tourist bus parking, but they were told this would again increase costs.
Planned refurbishment of the existing pool - originally provided with the help of financial kick-starts by a number of Naas businesspeople, augmented by a shilling-a-week collection from Naas residents over many years - would have closed the amenity from January 1 of this year, but the closure was postponed until August. Now it is expected that it will be kept upen until Christmas and the new project will commence early in the new year.
©2001brianbyrne/knn