A last-ditch attempt to save an Aberdeen swimming pool from closure could be backed by the end of the month.
City council chiefs are being primed to make an urgent plea for nearly £500,000 to keep Bucksburn pool open.
Councillors are being pressed to sign-off on the 11th-hour rescue bid at a “do or die” meeting at the end of the month.
Local campaigners are expected to try to make a case for short-term intervention directly to the finance committee on March 29.
Sport Aberdeen earlier this month announced it would pull the plug on the much-loved community facility come April.
Both it and the Beach Leisure Centre will close for the last time at the end of the school spring holidays, on April 16.
The city leisure operator’s budget for 2023-24 was slashed by £687,000 by the SNP and Liberal Democrats running the local authority.
Since then dozens have packed out the Beacon Centre to plan how to keep the pool open.
Campaigners also took the cause to the SNP leadership candidates last weekend.
Conservatives call for near £500,000 grant to save Bucksburn pool
Now, Conservative councillors want extra cash coming to Scotland from Westminster to be used to keep Bucksburn afloat.
They are pressing for the council’s finance committee to consider making the emergency funding call as urgent business a week on Wednesday.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt made a budget-day splash with a pledge of £63 million to help English councils keep pools open.
Consequential funding from that announcement should be included in the £320m extra coming north of the border.
But it will be up to the new first minister to decide how to spend that additional cash. Kate Forbes has vowed to help keep local pools open if she’s elected SNP leader in the contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon.
So, there are hopes it will provide the kiss of life for Bucksburn pool.
Aberdeen Conservative leader Ryan Houghton is now calling for the city council to stake a claim for £480,000 to make Bucksburn a viable operation for years to come.
Mr Houghton said: “As the city grapples with the budget cuts imposed by the SNP and Lib Dem administration, it appears that there may be a way to secure additional funding to keep Bucksburn pool open.
“The UK Government’s budget is set to increase Barnett consequentials by more than £320m for Holyrood.
“Considering that £63m is being allocated to swimming pools in England, it is imperative that the SNP Government distributes a proportionate sum to maintain pool facilities in Scotland.
“Here in Aberdeen, this would mean preserving Bucksburn pool.
“As the only party that did not propose the pool’s closure, we hope others will join us in supporting our call to keep it open.”
Aged Bucksburn pool needs £400,000 investment
Sport Aberdeen chief executive Alistair Robertson previously revealed the ageing pool needs £400,000 of investment to make it sustainable in the long term.
Its 30-year-old machinery makes it, and the soon-to-be-demolished Beach Leisure Centre, the charity’s two most expensive assets to run.
Only £90,000 new boilers, installed just before the Covid pandemic, has kept Bucksburn pool open this long.
The P&J understands it costs around £80,000 a year to operate the Kepplehills Road facility.
Bucksburn pool campaigners to take case to Town House
Kirsty Fraser, of the Save Bucksburn Swimming Pool group, said the prospect of councillors pressing for national funding was a “fantastic, amazing, hope” for the campaign.
“That finance committee meeting is do or die for us – and we will be trying to speak up for the community making a deputation,” she said.
“We are just hoping to keep Bucksburn pool open beyond April 16, regardless of the long-term cost.
“It would give us a year’s reprieve to come up with solutions, which we couldn’t do before the budget because we were not consulted.
“It is what the council should have done – it is what they are paid to do – but it seems there was no forethought before the funding was cut.
“It would be fantastic if councillors would agree to try to raise the money as the Conservatives are suggesting.”
Campaigners are expected to rally at the endangered pool again on Sunday. It follows protests across the city at other budget moves by the SNP and Lib Dems, such as closing six libraries.
The SNP Scottish Government has already stepped in once to unswing the axe – providing funding to continue the Big Noise Torry project SNP city councillors claimed had made “no impact whatsoever”.
Despite being vocal opponents of the swingeing Sport Aberdeen budget cuts, Labour chiefs were left red-faced when questions arose around whether they had unwittingly voted for the same thing.
Council co-leader: Pool cash ‘drop in the ocean’
But SNP council co-leader Alex Nicoll cast doubt on the usefulness of the Chancellor’s pool funding on BBC Radio Scotland on Thursday night.
He told the broadcaster: “I think it’s very unlikely [that Bucksburn could remain open].
“When you actually look at the figures, the Chancellor announced something like £63m for something in the order of 800 leisure facilities in England.
“That’s something like £75,000 [each] which is a drop in the ocean when it comes to actually paying for and running a swimming pool.
“We obviously are still to find out if it’s actually even going to qualify for Barnett consequentials.
“And if it does, then how much does that amount to given that are 32 local authorities in Scotland?”
His claims were refuted by the Conservatives who said the money “could absolutely be used to help pools like Bucksburn stay afloat in the short term”.
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP Andrew Bowie branded the co-leader’s words a “diversion” from the controversial council decisions of March 1.
Conversation