I have been down with influenza recently and am grateful to the ASA and Vanessa Gregory for copying me in on recent correspondence etc.

From it , I am placing the ASA position statement of 17 September 2010 below:-

" The ASA has for a number of years supported the need for a 50m community pool in the St Albans area, this support remains unchanged.  The proposal to re-develop the Westminster Lodge swimming complex and replace it with a 25m 8 lane pool is a positive step in providing up to date and appropriate swimming facilities for the residents of the city, and whilst our preference would still  be for a  50m community  pool  clearly this was not to be the preferred option and therefore we gave  our support for the 25m scheme at the time when   the council applied to Sport England for funding under the Government’s Free Swimming Capital Modernisation Programme, this funding stream has now been  withdrawn by the Coalition Government.

There is a time gap of over 4 years between our first meeting where our CEO David Sparkes gave his support to a 50 m community pool scheme and when Tom Neale gave support to the 25m project as the council had applied for funding; this project was then well established and considered to be viable, this support was given in march 2010. I have to stress that during the time span from the ASA’s point of view the priority has always been for a 50m pool

The Amateur Swimming Association believes there is a deficit in water space in the area and that the 25m option may not fulfill high level training and competition requirements however the council would I assume  ( as I have not discussed this with them)have balanced the two schemes to arrive  at their decision.

I do hope this clarifies our position.

Kind regards

Kate McKnight  Head of facility Development."

May I , as a Founder of PoolTooSmall , thank the ASA's CEO David Sparkes plus Kate McKnight and her team for taking considerable time and trouble to share experience and advise us - long may it continue !