23 December 2023 , 16:38
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The swimming pool built for the London Olympics is being handed to a private firm amid fears the 2012 Games’ legacy will be lost.
The London Aquatics Centre – where Team GB diver Tom Daley and swimmer Rebecca Adlington won bronze – has been managed by the charitable social enterprise Better. But the London Legacy Development Corporation, the publicly funded group behind the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, has given Sport and Leisure Management Ltd a £6.4million eight-year contract for its Everyone Active brand to run it from March. It comes after entry prices at the site in Stratford, East London, rose in April.
The Aquatics Centre (PA)Green Party Councillor Nate Higgins said: “LLDC is supposed to be safeguarding the legacy. Residents already complain about unreasonably high prices and this will likely only make it worse. We are facing a health crisis and affordable access to exercise is vital.”
Jacqui Tillman of Everyone Active, which runs more than 200 centres for councils, said: “We’re excited to bring new ideas and investment.” LLDC said: “The same arrangement we have with [Better] will remain in place. Provision of community facilities is a key part of services provided. There are no plans to change these.”
LLDC branded Cllr Higgins’ comments “ill-informed”, adding: “We have no complaints about high prices and go to great lengths to make sure our charges are similar to our neighbouring council pools.”
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