Complaints made about cleanliness of Daventry swimming pool

Swimmer Katrina Dunnett, who regularly uses the pool at Daventry Leisure Centre, has complained to the pool’s management team a number of times over the last 18 months, saying she spotted blood ingrained in the floor of the female toilets, dirty floors, dirt in grates and grooves around the pool area and on one occasion, she said she could smell urine in an area of the pool.

She says that despite her complaints and assurances that her concerns would be looked into, problems still persist.

Ms Dunnett said in one of her emails to the pool’s management team: “While there has been some improvement in some of the pool area, there are still major concerns with the cleanliness of the pool. The area by the pool adjacent to Lane 6 remains filthy. Also the toilet facilities are poor with toilets regularly not flushing and the soap dispensers not always replenished with soap.

“I have spoken to the duty managers, who appear to be under a lot of pressure, with limited resources.

“We have very few facilities in Daventry and it would be nice to think that we value and have pride in these facilities.”

Ms Dunnett also called for the publication of the results of a customer satisfaction survey that was run by Everyone Active, the company that manages the pool for Daventry District Council.

She added: “At this time of the year when people are falling ill from flu bugs and viruses, it is important to know that when we are using public facilities, managers of those facilities are taking hygiene and cleanliness seriously.”

Jamie Brightwell, general manager at Daventry Leisure Centre, said: “We want everyone to feel safe and comfortable when using the facilities at Daventry Leisure Centre. Since Ms Dunnett raised her concerns to us, we have put additional measures in place to ensure the site consistently maintains a high-standard of cleanliness. These include updates to cleaning schedules, daily walk rounds of the centre to check for any cleanliness issues and the recruitment of two additional colleagues trained in these areas.

“Customer safety is our number one priority, and on-duty lifeguards are dedicated to monitoring the pool. We employ a number of multi-skilled recreational assistants who, when not on duty pool side, carry out a number of other tasks aimed at maintaining high standards throughout the centre, including cleaning. This is carried out in addition to the work of our dedicated cleaners.

“The customer feedback survey we carried out in September was used for internal purposes to help us review and improve areas of our operation. We take all feedback seriously and have made a number of improvements based on the experiences of our members.”