ABERDEEN’S SNP politicians have been slammed for “finding their voice” over city leisure closures — after almost THREE THOUSAND hours of swimming will have been lost before an expected u-turn.
Bucksburn swimming pool shut its doors on April 30 this year after it fell victim to a sweeping round of cuts by SNP and Lib Dem controlled Aberdeen City Council. It was axed along with libraries in Woodside, Ferryhill, Cults, Cornhill, Kaimhill and Northfield.
Despite “a wall of silence” from local SNP politicians at the time, Kirsty Blackman and Jackie Dunbar have written to the administration ahead of an anticipated u-turn on December 13.
Calls to keep the centre open – and repeal cuts to the budget for Big Noise Torry – were led by local Scottish Conservative politicians working with campaign groups including Save Bucksburn Swimming Pool.
Today, North East MSP Tess White wrote to both politicians urging them to continue speaking up for their communities in the face of budget cuts.
She said:
“Finding their voice, even at this late stage, may have some impact on the decision-making come the council meeting on December 13.
“Their libraries cuts should also be binned, not least because the process behind it all turned out to be borderline illegal.
“But they shouldn’t have waited for some apparent all-clear from the SNP in Aberdeen to break the wall of silence and press home just how bad this has been for the city.
“Even if by some miracle they got to cut a ribbon on Bucksburn this Wednesday, the community will have lost almost three thousand opening hours.
“Multiply that by the families, clubs and community groups missing out, including those who loved Bucksburn for the accessibility, and that’s hundreds of thousands of hours lost to the community.”
