A GRANT of up to £115,000 approved by the Executive Committee at Malvern Hills District Council to help towards the rising energy costs at Tenbury Pool as the community facility slashes its gas and electricity bills.

With additional community fundraising and Tenbury Town Council support, the £152,000 target has been achieved.

The capital works include Solar PV panels, double glazing, and replacement boilers.

The improvements are estimated to deliver energy savings of more than 40,000kWh pa, over 10 tonnes of Co2 per year and a financial saving of £25,000.

The leisure pool is owned by Tenbury Community Pool Ltd and operated by Freedom Leisure.

Tenbury Community Pool has no direct source of regular income and is wholly reliant on an annual council grant, along with other external grants and fundraising initiatives to pay for annual insurances, maintenance costs and to achieve its short and long term plans.

To reduce the impact of rising costs, the pool has already installed additional solar panels and automatic doors and Freedom Leisure has introduced a series of operational measures at Tenbury Swimming Pool, including a new pool cover, reducing water and air temperatures, and turning off equipment during off peak times.

These changes have successfully reduced the electricity use by 27 per cent and gas usage by 47 per cent compared to the previous year.

Last October, Malvern Hills District Council agreed to increase the annual grant to Tenbury Community Pool up to £93,000 and Tenbury Town Council agreed a £10,000 grant to help keep Tenbury Community Pool running amidst rising energy costs.

The pool is already working to replace the water pipe in the carpark, recently repaired at a cost of £6,000 and ongoing funding will always be needed to deliver these improvements.

Adrian Taylor, Chairman of Tenbury Community Pool, says that cutting costs is a top priority.

“Tenbury Community Pool’s long-term vision of working towards a greener and economically secure future for the facility in Tenbury is highlighted by the immediate need to reduce the costs of operating the Tenbury Community Pool in the current economic climate due to high utility requirements,” Mr Taylor said.