About Us

In 2004Lewisham Council announced plans to demolish Ladywell Leisure Centre in 2007 - we saved it! The pool will stay open until the forecast replacement is ready.  Sadly the plan is awfully inadequate and instead of being a plan for a community sport and leisure centre it is a plan for a lifestyle pool for the new residential developments to be built in front of Lewisham Station.

The following pages are maintained by the SAVE LADYWELL POOL CAMPAIGN who can be contacted on ladywellpool@hotmail.com

 
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Mayor's letter

Here is the full text of the letter that the Mayor of Lewisham published on the Mercury on the 29th October 2003:

Mayor dives in over pool claims


I refer to Stuart Rigby's letter of October 8 regarding the Ladywell Centre.
I will be charitable and assume he simply, but completely, misunderstood what was reported.
Let's get the facts clear:
  • When problems developed in the summer of 2002, the advice of council officials was to close it permanently
  • The justification was that when Lewisham town centre is redeveloped it is hoped a state-of-the-art leisure centre will be built. But that is some years away
  • My view was that it is simply unacceptable for the borough to be without a flagship leisure and swimming centre for at least seven years and maybe longer
  • I therefore decided to switch resources into getting the Ladywell Centre back into use
If and when there is alternative (and better) provision available, I will be prepared to review the future of the Ladywell Centre.
As long as I am mayor there will be a top class swimming facility in the centre of our borough and I am looking forward to being the first person into the pool when it re-opens.
Finally, I would point out to Mr Rigby that whether he likes it or not the great British public does change its mind sometimes.
In the 1980s, leisure pools were all the rage with wave machines and water splashes and such like.
Today the demand is for lane swimming - so a pool being built now would reflect that.
My job is to make sure the people of Lewisham get what they want, not to impose my own preferences on them.


Steve Bullock  
Mayor of Lewisham