Cross-Party Consensus On Simple Truth Behind Call From Scott & Scottish Swimming: "Children Need Pools To Swim In"
Scottish Swimming Hustings calls for Joint Task Force, as swim federation boss John Lunn leads call for task force on how a nation sustains its pools for the safety and good of the next wave and the next
Scottish Swimming held its first Hustings event “Saving Lives Changing Lives” as February got underway, inviting five politicians from five political parties to voice their views on sport, health, swimming and the sustainability of swimming pools for current and future generations.
Attended by an audience of over 100 people representing different sports, water safety and the aquatics community, Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh's world-class Science Centre and Planetarium, hosted to what those gathered described as "a lively evening of discussion and debate" chaired by broadcaster and award-winning journalist Heather Dewar.
There in the audience was Duncan Scott, ambassador for the "Save Our Pools" campaign, not to mention self and swimming in Scotland and Britain, reflected in his results in the water and the honours that reflect that and his work beyond the elite fray: he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2025 New Year Honours, both for services to the sport in which he has excelled and in which he has used his athlete voice of fair play and deeper understanding of the often-over-looked role swimming plays in local communities, health and saving lives included.
After the hustings at Dynamic Earth, Scott noted:
“Tonight presented a great opportunity to progress the need for collaboration and government action to solve the facilities crisis in Scotland. Swimming pools are increasingly under threat of closure due to ageing stocks and increasing operational costs. We need to find a solution to keep pools open for the essential safety and health benefits they provide for children and adults.”
On the floor earlier, he encouraged the leaders who pledged to invest in school swimming after he and those working on the campaign at Scottish Swimming and among its partners and members called on them to deliver a program in which every child would leave primary school able to swim as a key legacy of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games:
Craig Lord
While supportive of the recent budget commitments, Scott posed a "work together"-to-get-it-done challenge for those charged with the power to make decisions and take action:
“The recent Government Budget announcement to invest in school swimming is extremely positive and welcome but children need pools to swim in. It was good to see the parties looking to collaborate on the need for swimming facilities – that’s what we need: parties working together to solve the crisis for the benefit of future generations.”
John Lunn, CEO of Scottish Swimming, used the Hustings to call for precisely that, starting with a task force of all parties, politicians, experts and practitioners alike:
"We’ve been asking for a Task Force with collaboration and consultation to look at the infrastructure and how we sustain swimming pools. We recognise that we don’t have all the answers but we know that there’s a need for those who do have the answers to come together and understand where there is common ground so we can build a more positive future together.”
The panel, representing five political parties included Maree Todd MSP (Scottish National Party), Neil Bibby MSP (Scottish Labour), Liz Smith CBE MSP (Scottish Conservatives), Lorna Slater MSP (Scottish Greens) and Councillor Aude Boubaker-Calder (Scottish Liberal Democrats).
The panellists at the Hustings, left, including politicians across the political spectrum (l-r, in picture o the right) Neil Bibby, Maree Todd and Liz Smith
Scottish Swimming summarised some of the most salient comments in a statement that included the following:
Councillor Aude Boubaker-Calder, on school swimming,
“In my personal opinion swimming should be part of the PE curriculum, full stop. Universal access and life saving skills are so important. In Belgium we learn swimming from P1 to S6 so everyone can swim by the end of primary school.”
Speaking about the need for greater collaboration around sports facilities, Neil Bibby MSP:
“I think we are all agreed on a collaborative approach between different parties, Scottish Swimming, Leisure Trusts, local government, councils. I think we should be having a Summit post-election to discuss this in a cross party way and involving different sectors to try and resolve these funding issues.”
Liz Smith MSP:
“Collaboration, because if we don’t harness in the extra money we are not going to be able to do all the things we need to do. The fiscal situation is going to continue to be difficult for quite some time and unless we have that collaborative approach we are not going to be able to build these swimming pools in the way that we want to.”
Maree Todd MSP:
“There was lots of positive discussion and lots of consensus across the panel. I feel very strongly that I am in a room full of people that understand the power that swimming has and you had a panel that understood how powerful it is for children to learn to swim – it’s a life saving skill, it’s a life skill. I regularly think about what individual sports offer and swimming is one that really builds confidence.”
Lorna Slater MSP:
“It was brilliant to get to talk about swimming and sport in Scotland. We talked about equalities and access and funding and I’m particularly excited about how we can use the upcoming Community Wealth Building Bill to support swimming pools across Scotland because they are such important community assets.”
Scottish Swimming noted that it continues "to push for a Joint Task Force on swimming pools to ensure solutions are found to the facilities crisis and there was broad cross-party support for this at the Hustings. Similarly, there was wide agreement for protecting pools as community assets through statutory consultation to ensure pool closures are known about and alternative solutions are explored."
Its' CEO, John Lunn:
“I’m really pleased with how it went tonight. It’s the first time we’ve done this and I hope it’s not the last time. It was great to host a successful Hustings and gain recognition from both the audience and the panellists that issues like pool closures and the health of the nation matter."
Thise words were followed by the quote already cited above, namely: "We’ve been asking for a Task Force with collaboration and consultation to look at the infrastructure and how we sustain swimming pools. We recognise that we don’t have all the answers but we know that there’s a need for those who do have the answers to come together and understand where there is common ground so we can build a more positive future together.”
