Frequently Asked Questions

General

How can I have my say or help out?

Lobby your Councillor. See here and get in touch with the Quarry Forum.

When did the original consultation period end?

It ended on the 30th October 2015 (extended from 25th September). The results showed that 68% favoured the pool where it is.

When will the final decision be made?

Proposals go in front of the Council's cabinet on the 14th February 2018. This is where we'll find out the new direction the Council is taking and we are hoping they'll propose it is kept in the Town Centre.

Why was there three options for keeping the pool where it is?

It is unfortunate that the council have done this as we believe it only serves to confuse people and dilute option of keeping it where it is.

If the Quarry Pool is closed for rebuild or relocation, what will we get in its place?

The old proposal was to have two pools, a 25 meter eight lane one and, and a smaller 20m x 10m learner pool with movable floor.
We anticipate the new proposal will be to redevelop the existing site, possibly with shared usage with Shrewsbury Town Council.
The Quarry Forum wants to be closely involved with the process.

Won't the Quarry Pool be demolished anyway regardless of what I say?

There are no guarantees. You could take the view that the council would favour moving the pool to the outskirts of town so that they can potentially sell the land off for a quick gain. The results of the survey are for information only so the council can choose to ignore them and decide for itself.

Will the survey results be ignored?

The results of the survey are non-binding - it is not a referendum. So when the council comes to make its decision they will hopefully take the results into consideration (68% in favour of it staying where it is) but they can still make a decision contrary to what the survey results indicates. We can only hope that the more people that choose to keep the pool where it is, the harder it will be for the council to justify one of the out-of-town options.

I heard there may be a 5* hotel built there. Is it true?

A while ago our MP, Daniel Kawczynski, called for the site of the Quarry pool to be used for a luxury hotel. See the Shropshire Star article here. However you have to ask yourself what benefit this will give to the people of Shrewsbury. We already have large hotels in the centre of town and many great boutique hotels and B&Bs too so do we really need another one? And if it goes ahead you can probably wave goodbye to any major events being held in the quarry park because it will disturb the hotel guests.

What about attendance figures for the existing site - how will they change?

An interesting one this - the report suggests that there will be no increase in attendance if the existing site is retained, potentially even a decrease. Now think about this for a second... we have an influx of students coming to the town centre and there are more empty office blocks being converted to flats within the centre all of which equals more people centrally located. So ask yourself how can they draw that conclusion? The attendance figures WILL go up (and already are).

If the site is relocated or rebuilt

What will the new facilities be?

This table summarises the differences between the current site and the original proposed new build (whether at the same location or one of the other locations) based upon all available information. Note that everything is up in the air again so we don't know what the new proposals will be.

Facility	Existing Facility	Original Proposed Facility
Number of pools	4	2
Size of pools	33.3m x 12.8m (6 lane) 25.5m x 9.5m 10.5m x 6.5m 10m	25m x 20m (8 lane) 20m x 10m
Maximum depth of pools	3.8m / 12'6" (main pool)	Not specified for main pool but probably around 2.0m - see note 2. Second pool will have a movable floor.
Outdoor pool (lido)		See note 1
Water flume
Diving boards
Learners pool
Spectator seating
Gym		Though no details given
Relaxation suite (spa, sauna)
Cafe		Not known
Function room		Not known
Parking	Limited spaces on site, 1,000+ within 10 minute walk.	Unknown but likely to be a reasonable number on site.
Public transport	Easily accessible by public transport from all parts of Shrewsbury and surrounding areas.	Limited if moved from current location - most bus routes in Shrewsbury are radial so for many users it will involve two bus journeys.

Note 1: The outdoor pool is owned by the Town Council (and managed by Serco who manage the main centre). If the main centre moves it is not known what will happen to this pool.

Note 2: Referring to the Sports England pool design guidance note a deep-end depth of 2.0m is recommended for 25m pools.