WYRE Forest District Council is planning to build a new leisure centre, including a 25-metre swimming pool, at Silverwood in Kidderminster.

At a time of increasing levels of obesity together with a general lack of fitness in the community, the new facility is most welcome.

The present Stourport pool, gymnasium and sports hall are well used and have the advantage of being in the centre of Stourport with easy access, including good public transport links. They should not be closed as part of the plans for sports facilities.

It is unbelievable that only a 25-metre swimming pool is being considered for the new centre and this represents myopic thinking.

Swimming has been allocated £50million over four years towards the training of high performance athletes. Further millions will also be made available for special events.

There are only 38 50-metre (Olympic length) pools in the UK, where the public have access and the pools are open all year. The nearest to us is in Coventry. This lack of adequate facilities perhaps explains our overall poor performances at international level in swimming.

If Wyre Forest had a 50-metre pool , it would help the aspirations of our young people to achieve Olympic and international standards. It would also put our local authority in tune with the Government’s aim to fund athletes to a high standard.

This pool could be used by swimming coaches at all levels, bringing business to Wyre Forest and inevitably increasing the performances of our local swimmers, It is hoped councillors will reviewitheir plans and including a 50-metre pool as well as continuing to use the Stourport pool.

We could then have excellent facilities which would benefit the whole community instead of a pared down leisure centre.

MIKE WARD Lilac Grove, Stourport