Good afternoon,

I'm writing today with some cautious good news. There is currently a proposal to invest £1.18m in Richmond Swimming Pool. This is to complete structural and electrical works labelled 'essential in the next 2 years' The provisional re-opening date for the pool would be April 2026. This information was released early due to "Large public interest", which was no doubt influenced by the 3000 people who added their voices to our online and paper petition.

Firstly, this is great news and achieves our ultimate aim. However, we are conscious that none of this has been officially decided yet. We are still planning to attend the various meetings required before the investment can be signed off. The first of these meetings is tomorrow (Monday 10am at Northallerton County Hall). My son will be speaking to introduce this petition to the Councillors. All are welcome to join us in the public area.

Another thing to be aware of is that this proposal covers only essential repairs. This was the minimum option of investment from North Yorkshire Council. For comparison, Richmond has around 9000 residents and has £1.18m allocated to leisure facilities. Pickering has fewer residents, and has been allocated investment of £10.18m for leisure facilities.

Whilst we are pleased with the proposal to reopen the pool, we are cautious that without a greater level of investment, we are delaying the inevitable problems which will surface at a pool reaching almost 50 years old. Richmond swimming pool will be open, but for how long?

A huge thank you for all of the support so far. We are continuing to press the council to make sure that this investment goes ahead, and make it known that we need to keep Richmond Swimming Pool Open in the long term.

Best wishes,

Rachael & the Save Richmond Swimming Pool team