Swimming: Government urged to invest £2bn

"Some Honourable Member here mentioned that we cannot afford to invest in swimming. Well, we are not a third-rate country, we are not a third world country, we are the third-largest economy in the world and we darn well should afford it." Duncan Goodhew's frank assessment to the Select Committee for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport headlined its report into the sport of swimming, which was published yesterday.

The committee is urging the Secretary of State, Tessa Jowell, to invest £2bn over "several years" to redress the chronic underfunding in the physical and social well-being of the nation through swimming. There are not enough pools and the ones there are need urgent repairs. If the money is not spent, one by one, the 1,200 public pools left will close.

"Swimming is the most popular sport in the country," said Gerald Kaufman, who chairs the committee. "I find it quite incomprehensible that it has been so neglected by the Government and local authorities. It is the most popular activity among girls and the second most popular for boys. Yet drownings are increasing in the under-14 age group. One third of primary school children in inner city areas cannot swim, despite it being on the National Curriculum. Swimming is one of the few activities that embraces the disabled, ethnic minorities, the very young and the very old. It is no surprise to me that we won no swimming medals in Sydney."

The 150-page report calls for a specific strategy for swimming, separate from the Government's general plan for sport, announced last year. Kaufman, still incensed over the Wembley stadium and Picketts Lock fiasco, took the opportunity to remind everyone that Government spending is about people. "The needs for swimming are so great that £2bn from the national budget over several years is not that much. This is not a lottery issue. The Government needs to recognise that the lottery is not a substitute for core funding. It is time the Government accepted its responsibilities and reminded local authorities why they are there. If local authorities took the view 30 years ago that they are taking today, we would have no parks, no museums, no galleries and no public swimming pools."

To David Sparkes, chief executive of British Swimming, this report is manna from heaven. "We need more water and we need water we can afford. Success at the élite level goes hand in glove with the success of school swimming and the club structure and local authorities are the key to the whole thing. If the next Ian Thorpe pops up in North Yorkshire, we need a structure that will pick him up and take him to the top. I'm pleased that this report endorses our own strategy and I shall be writing to Richard Cabourn, the minister for sport, to ask for his response and to ask what he is going to do about it."

Sarah Price, the 200m backstroke world record holder in the short course pool and who lives and trains in Barnet, north London, said, "I need to train in a 50m pool to increase the chances of getting to the world record long course. I might do it training in a 25m pool here, but it is harder. Two 50m pools for 12 million people in greater London, is a joke." The report points out the difficulties of attaching a monetary value to the health of the nation, but emphasises the wide ranging benefits of the sport. Swimming improves general health, reduces the risk of heart disease and lowers the burden on the health service from the estimated 60 per cent of the population who are overweight. Moreover, swimming provides fun and leisure for every age range, every level of disability and every ethnic group and, as the report points out, "provides an alternative activity to dalliance with drugs, alcohol and crime." The confidence that children and adults gain in overcoming their fears can help them for the rest of their life.

While all this is true, the 12 million regular swimmers in Britain are suffering public pools that are falling into chronic disrepair and local authorities that are not investing in the learn to swim schemes, schools and swimming clubs, nor engaging the needs of their ethnic and inner city populations. And it is this issue which is central not just to the health of the nation, but to success at the élite end.

Everyone remembers Goodhew, Sharron Davies and David Wilkie, the swimming stars of 20 years ago, yet few will immediately identify Paul Palmer, Graeme Smith or Sarah Price. Yesterday's report could be the first step to ensuring the next generation are just as famous.

* Britain's Zoe Baker broke her own 50m breaststroke world short-course record with a time of 30.51sec at a World Cup meeting in Imperia, Italy, yesterday.