Report highlights failings in council's Leamington and Warwick paddling pools refurb project
A report to be considered by Warwick District Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee next week highlights failings in the job the authority did in refurbishing and trying to re-open the public paddling pool at Victoria Park in Leamington and St Nicholas Park in Warwick last year.
Having both been closed in 2024, both the Victoria Park and Warwick’s St Nicholas Park paddling pools were due to re-open in May last year.
But both projects – signed off on by the council (WDC) and sub-contracted out in September 2024 - were delayed and the Victoria Park pool was opened for just a few days in July 26 (2025) before it was closed again by the authority “due to a range of technical issues” less than three weeks later.
Subsequently, the re-opening of the St Nicholas Park paddling pool was also postponed.
The Replacement Paddling Pools Project Update report, which will be considered by the committee at Leamington Town Hall on Tuesday evening (February 24), highlights how council officers “underestimated the technical knowledge, support and oversight” needed for the Leamington and Warwick projects.
The costs for these projects were budgeted at £470,200 and £420,600 respectively – to be funded from Section 106 money given to the authority by developers to mitigate the impact of new houses being built around the district.
The report says that “by spring 2025, it became apparent that the project timescales were slipping” and that “some of the delays were due to waiting times for parts, poor weather slowing down progress on the ground works and technical concerns in relation to the plant room and surfacing raised by the current maintenance contractor”.
It also says the reason for the sudden Victoria Park paddling pool closure was "concerns regarding the pool surfacing and the water play features failures”.
The report says: “The closure of the paddling pool caused a lot of disappointment and resulted in local press interest and negative comments on social media, which risked the reputation of the council.
" As part of the response to this the council committed to a review of works and report back to Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the review and associated learning.”
Both paddling pools are due to re-open this summer.
To read the report visit https://tinyurl.com/3z5s2fh6