If you are following the Save Temple Cowley Pools campaign, you might be interested in the email that I sent to Oxford City Council City Executive Board: Dear City Executive Board, I was extremely disappointed with your decision to close Temple Cowley Pool, as were the 70+ spectators who were packed into the standing-room-only audience space for the meeting.

I spoke with several of those people last night and as an audience we felt patronised and ignored. Several of you did not make eye contact with Nigel Gibson when you were questioning him. This is perhaps an indication that you either felt uncomfortable with the decision that had already been made or that you were not prepared to listen with open minds.

Many of you cited the dilapidated condition of Temple Cowley pool, which is hypocritical when Oxford City Council have deliberately allowed it to be run down to this state over the last five or more years.

The overwhelming feeling from the public was that you had all made your decision months ago and were just casting around for different ways to say ‘no’ to keeping the pool open, not that you had seriously considered the wishes of so many of your constituents. You are elected officials and have a duty to do what your voters ask you to do. We could not have made it clearer that the vast majority of people in Cowley and surrounding areas want this pool kept open.

Today’s letters

I told a colleague of mine (who has lived in Cowley for 60 years) this morning about the result and she is now very worried about the impact that 47 new homes would have on Temple Cowley Health Centre which is already overstretched. She had to wait three weeks for an appointment recently and this would only get worse with so many more people living in the area. She was also worried about a lot more children and young adults in the area having nothing to do, which very often leads to an increase in crime.

I hope that when this decision goes to scrutiny it will be reversed and that Temple Cowley pool stays open.

Claire Brunt Hollow Way Oxford

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