Paddling pool ban upsets Helen
Helen Crozier says she is devastated after being told she must get rid of her community paddling pool.
The 42-year-old has been filling it up in a communal garden area outside flats in Crouch Court, Prior's Park, Tewkesbury, for the past four years.
-
She said she can't see why children can't cool off and have fun.
But Severn Vale Housing Society, which owns the site, says it is for health and safety reasons.
It said the pool is not always monitored by adults and it can't take the risk that a young child could drown in it.
Helen said: "They say that if I don't remove the pool immediately, they will. But it's been there for four years. They even provided the decking for it.
"We can't man it 24/7 but there's always someone supervising the kids when they're there. My boyfriend used to work at Cascades swimming pool and is a trained lifeguard.
"I'm so upset, I've been in tears. I'm so disappointed for the kids."
The society made its decision after Helen revealed the pool had been vandalised on the past two weekends.
She said she feared that she was being penalised as a result of reminding Severn Vale that it had failed to provide gates and lights to improve security at the site.
The society has since told her that it will provide the lights but has not said whether it will install gates.
Severn Vale spokeswoman Jane Thorndale said: "It's a communal garden and anything that goes in there is our responsibility. Because it's left unattended overnight, a child could go in there and drown. For health and safety reasons, we can't have something that would risk injury to anyone or any thing."
49 Comments
View all
by LC, The Fod
Saturday, July 04 2009, 4:35PM
“I would imagine that part of the problem is out of SV's hands though. Often there will some type of public liability insurance to cover accidents and those sort of things. It's probably fair to say that the insurance doesn't cover accidents in pools on SV property as officially SV don't have any pools. I imagine changing it would result in an increased premium resulting in increased costs for residents.
(I might be completely off the mark with the above, but there's insurance for most things these days to protect companies from the blame culture).”
by Debbie, Tewkesbury
Friday, July 03 2009, 8:45PM
“This is to everyone thats saying take your children to Cascades or Chelt Lido,why can,t people that live in flats have the same privileges as people that have there own gardens at least we know where our kids”
by Debbie, Tewkesbury
Friday, July 03 2009, 7:07PM
“I live at Crouch Court and i really don,t see what the problem is about having a pool that is supervised at all times like myself and Helen and others have said we understand the HS issue so what is the harm in emptying the pool after use so its empty through the night,my daughter will be 12 years old this year and i feel so much more secure knowing that shes out the front of our home having fun in the pool then being elsewhere,where i don,t know where she is. Why can,t our children have a paddling pool outside we have,nt got gardens like people who have houses do,at least we know that or kids are in the pool instead of getting into trouble and causing mischeif i,m disgusted that SV is still saying remove it because of HS if we empty it every time then there is no reason for HS issues”
by Bob Frapples, Cheltenham
Friday, July 03 2009, 3:59PM
“Why is it assumed that these parents are incapable of supervising their children in a paddling pool? That's quite an insulting or, at best, ignorant insinuation.
And what sort of an attitude to anti-social behaviour do Severn Vale have? This tenant has worked hard to improve the appearance of her neighbourhood and has helped to create a sense of shared pride in her community yet when she asks for help in tackling anti-social behaviour, SV threaten to confiscate the kiddies' paddling pool. If the concern was that someone might fall into it at night, then it seems they are prioritising the safety of drunken yobs, presumably the same ones who vandalised it in the first place, over the rights of tenants to enjoy the same sort of amenities taken for granted in homes all over the country.”
by J, gloucester
Thursday, July 02 2009, 11:09PM
“Why was my apology to Veritas, Tewkesbury removed???????”