Sunlight answer to heat woes

How very convenient that only a few weeks ago the senior executive of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council was trying again to put a proposal to sell off another one of the borough's assets to build yet more expensive residential properties on the site of Shrewsbury swimming baths.

Now he has found an excuse now to help his proposal on its way. The same man is responsible for the six-year electricity supply contract to all council properties and states he cannot afford to keep the leisure centres open all winter.

However there is a solution. The leisure centres in and around Shrewsbury have one thing in common; they are all next to fields. The swimming pool sits next to the Quarry, where there is large ground mass potential.

So, why not sink ground source heat pumps into the field, place photovoltaic cells on the roof and the council could sell energy back to the grid and make money while reducing carbon emissions?

How will this be sponsored? Well, the council, according to a report in the Star, has enough money to buy commercial properties in Mardol, or it could stop the theatre project, which will use loads of energy.

We are all being told to take more exercise and here we are with a council that wants to sell the swimming pool. It could spend a little

on maintenance, drop the entrance prices and alter the opening hours to suit more of us in the community - then it could sit back and watch the pool thrive again.

A Cosnett, Shrewsbury