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Ice rink plan for town revealed
Monday 27th July 2009, 10:25AM BST.
Shrewsbury could get an ice rink under plans for the future of the town’s Quarry pool, it was revealed today.
Telford is the only town in Shropshire with a rink but council leaders say a second site will be considered because of the potential energy saving costs it could generate if combined with a swimming centre.
Calls for Shrewsbury to get its own ice rink were raised at a public meeting last week after one resident said people were fed up at having to travel to Telford.
Councillor Peter Nutting told the meeting it was possible for ideas for an ice rink to be included as part of the Quarry pool review.
Councillor Stephen Charmley, Shropshire Council cabinet member for leisure, today said the review was due to start into the future of the pool, with three options having previously been suggested including a refurbishment costing about £9.6 million, a demolition and rebuild for about £7.75 million or building an “out of town” site at a cost of about £7.6 million.
Councillor Charmley said updated figures would be required as part of the review but warned the incorporation of an ice rink into the swimming pool plans would mean significant additional building costs.
He said: “An ice rink is going to be quite an expensive add on to any swimming project option we do so financially it is something that would have to be looked at.”
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Have the numbers really declined so badly that we can get rid of this pool?? Nearly every time i am there (twice a week) the pools are well used, i would be saddened if we lost the quarry pool
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Kelly, they’re not getting rid of the pool! They’re talking about replacing the existing old pool complex with a new pool & ice rink complex.
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Why do people want to save this pool? We need a decent swimming facility locally and this is not it. Go to Welshpool on a weekend it is full of families from Shrewsbury who travel 30 minutes to use a cleaner facility. Pull it down and start again! Stop trying to save the thing, it is not well used, more people travel to Plas Madoc and Welshpool
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Ok that’s fair enough then, i have not kept up to date with the proposals. Just didnt want to lose a pool of a decent length for the town. I agree the whole thing needs a revamp.
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ONE resident said PEOPLE were fed up at having to travel to Telford? It’s never going to happen, Ice Rinks are few and far between in the UK and two in one small county will not happen.
Telford is 12 miles from Shrewsbury, accessible by road or rail, it’s hardly an epic journey for anyone who wants to go skating….
Or is this a case of Shrewbury folk put out because Telford has something they dont?
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Karen- what are you on about? The Quarry Pool is always busy,clean and well used. It’s in a fantastic location, but yes it could do with a refurb.
I think an ice rink in the same location would be a fantastic opportunity to improve the county town. The ice rink in Telford is very crowd, and I know many people who don’t both going any more for that reason.
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The money spent on that horrid lump of concrete by the new theater would have helped play for an ice rink. If put to the vote i’m sure people would rather an ice rink.
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Bobb Dobbs – You have hit the nail on the head its a case of the green eyed monster Telford has a Ice Rink while Shrewsbury does not so therefore Shrewsbury now wants a ice rink. Money should be spent on improving Telford Ice Rink perhaps Shropshire council could make a donation to T & W Council after all a huge amount of Shrewsbury folk use Telford ice rink.
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This has got nothing to do with people from Shrewsbury being jealous of Telford. If there is a demand for an ice rink then shrewsbury should have one. I haven’t used Telford ice rink for years, it’s a bit sad looking and seems to attract some seriously unfriendly people. I would love to take the kids to a local rink, so lets hope they build one.
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Y Mab you seem to be talking rubbish. Shrewsbury wants an ice rink, end of!
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y mab, fairs fair if Shropshire council are going to donate money to upgrade our ice rink then we should donate some of our rubbish to help their incinerator run at full capacity
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Telford rink isn’t very nice so i would never travel to use it, but would use one in shrewsbury.
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I agree with Y mab, lets keep the amenities in Telford. If we have too much in shrewsbury then Telford folk might start coming here and that’s the last thing we want!
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If an ice rink would be an eco friendly addition to running a swimming pool then I am all for it.
There is little provision for younger people in Shrewsbury and the new swimming pool and ice-rink building could be a great asset and back drop to the Quarry with a sedum roof perhaps?
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silly idea and waste of money, just drive to telford if you must skate, its only 15 mins!!
im not happy about the idea of the incinerator at all because of the health risks from the fumes and the pm 10, but taking telfords waste is an outrageous idea, that would be more heavy traffic coming into shrewsbury, they should be self sufficient and we all should recycle more instead
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Hey, slow down everyone, has anyone thought to check with the town centre residents association ?
After all, they will have the final say.
Could the sound of metal blades on ice exceed the decibels permitted in Shrewsbury ?
Will they approve of a majority of people having fun in the town ? If they do it quietly ?
Could Shrewsbury cope with the influx of happy people actually having a bit of fun ?
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Steven i forgot about the SRA, forget the ice rink idea or a new pool, lets spend the money on more flowers and keep the town center quiet.
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Lol at Steven!!
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Seems a waste of time and money putting an ice rink in Shrewsbury when there’s one 10 minutes up the road in Telford. Why not put in something useful such as a cycling track that people will actually use as the next nearest one is Manchester.
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Dan you are missing the point. The mechanics of the running of the heating for a swimming pool can be utilized to run the ice rink too.
A cycling track sounds good though not IMHO in the middle of the town.
I would like to see a proper skateboard park (skateboarders only, not combined with bmx bikes) like the fantastic one my son was able to use when in Newquay, Wales.
They do not require much space though as previously mentioned the TCRA would not be supportative.
My concern about Councillor Nutting coming up with this ice-rink suggestion is that it may well be used to give an excuse to re-locate the swimming pool from its present location.
I have mixed views on this but I know a lot of people really want it to stay in the town.
It is in my view an opportunity for an attractive ‘eco- friendly’ building and asset to the Quarry.
I really wish that swimming had been free for under 16 yrs when mine were under that age!!!
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There is already a cycle track in Shrewsbury at the Sports Village, Nutting did not bring up the idea if you read the article, and residents for years have been asking for skating in Shrewsbury. The Quarry site is too small to take a decent pool complex and ice. If you are going to have both move to a bigger site and do the job well rather than try to pack it all in on one site. As for free swimming there is no such thing. The tax payer still has to pick up the cost of running the pools.
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As my sister over the border in Wales had free music lessons and swimming lessons nevermind smaller class sizes when her children were young I feel it is something long overdue for Shrewsbury in a town surrounded by a large river.
I am quite happy for parents to receive any extra help they can in the expensive years of child rearing.Far better than propping up MPs expenses fiddling or local councillors now overly generous allowances.
Without trying to be too pedantic Charles the above article did give the impression that the Council had already been investigating this before the public meeting was held.
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Eva, No it dose not make the impression the council was looking or even will look at the idea and inparticular Nutting was not promoting the idea but there again you got all your facts about Theatre Severn wrong and so we should be used to it.The last thing I would call you is pedantic.
As a parent of younge children I would like to see ALL of any age pay to use all service and those who can not afford to use a service get it for free. If this means a parent who say smokes has to stop smoking to teach their child to swim then so be it.
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how does heating a swimming pool make ice cold ?? I am confused
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Perhaps you should read the Shrewsbury Chronicle newspaper just put through my door Charles, page 12 should put you straight! It is obvious the council have been looking at this for some time and intend to give it some consideration.
BTW if the child of a parent who smokes should be unfortunate enough to drown through not having learned to swim you would feel justified in your stance?
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I took my children from Telford to Shrewsbury to use the climbing wall at the sports village yesterday but don’t worry we handed in our shooting irons on the way in and didn’t leave with anything that didn’t belong to us..
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