Letter: Time for Cllr Steel to Consider His Position

Published on: 5 Jun, 2022
Updated on: 5 Jun, 2022

Stoke Park Paddling Pool

From: Howard Smith

vice-chair of Guildford labour

In response to: After Just Five Days, Guildford Paddling Pool Closes Again

Testament to the performance of the current council, we hear from The Guildford Dragon that the paddling pool in Stoke Park has had to be closed just five days after it was reopened, due to the risk of serious injury.

The expensive new surfacing is a danger to users (small children no less!) with reports of falls and slips.

Where to start with the level of incompetence of the R4GV/ Lib Dem led council?

First, you have to ask why the work wasn’t carried out during the winter months, giving the council plenty of time to test the surface before the pool was reopened. Why didn’t the pool go through rigorous safety checks? And there are questions to be asked about the tendering process that led us to this point. It seems to me that this situation was completely avoidable.

The lead councillor responsible, Lib Dem James Steel, has these questions to answer.

Unfortunately for Guildford, he has at best a checkered record in his short spell on the council. He is the councillor responsible for the dithering over the future of the crumbling Spectrum sports centre as well as the closure of many of the public toilets in the town.

After such a series of unnecessary missteps and blunders, surely now is the time for Cllr Steel to consider his position.

Responses to Letter: Time for Cllr Steel to Consider His Position

Wayne Smith Reply

June 5, 2022 at 4:34 pm

Howard Smith is right to raise the questions regarding the tendering process and safety checks/sign off but GBC have been dithering about what to do with Spectrum for many many years., almost as long as the North Street regeneration.

When the need to re-surface the paddling pool was first reported in The Dragon, a cost of £170,000 was quoted by just one company. I do hope that a proper tendering process was subsequently followed or did they just accept that one quote as a matter of expediency with the imminent arrival of warmer weather on the horizon?
John Phelps Reply

June 5, 2022 at 7:45 pm

Not to forget his mishandling of the car park charges where he failed to inform Experience Guildford.