Saltcoats SPLASH Group

That the Parliament commends the work of the Saltcoats Splash group, which unveiled its plans to resurrect the Saltcoats Outdoor Tidal Pool at a public meeting in Saltcoats Town Hall in May 2023; understands that the Saltcoats bathing pond was once the largest tidal pool in Scotland, and that the Pavilion building was demolished in 1983; further understands that only a handful of outdoor pools and lidos still function and remain open to the public in Scotland; congratulates the group chair, Irene Campbell, and architects on carrying out a feasibility study after receiving £20,000 from the North Ayrshire Council Place Based Investment fund; notes that the group has received confirmation from an engineer and the architect that it will be possible to reopen the pool; considers that outdoor pools are important community hubs, where different generations of people have learned to swim, as well as bringing in vital tourism; believes that the Scottish Government should continue to work with Swimming Scotland to establish more publicly-funded outdoor pools across the country to ensure that people have safe outdoor swimming spaces, and extends its warmest wishes to the group as it seeks to secure funding to provide Saltcoats with a unique, safe, outdoor swimming space for all to use in the months to come.