York City is expanding with more people choosing to live in the city and houses being built to accommodate them. The council informs us of all the new jobs that are created by new businesses moving to York, the tourist industry is doing well and creating more jobs.

With all this extra wealth coming into the city, the council is unable to balance the books. The only remedies are higher rates and reduced facilities for the ever-increasing population of this fine city.

First it was school closures - due to spare places, residents were told. What will be the excuse for the next closure? York City Council will bring in consultants and then the so-called "listening to residents" will take place, before the elected councillors do exactly what they intended to do in the first place. The result is a forgone conclusion.

Now the council is moving on to swimming baths and libraries. As a resident of this city I strongly object to these closures. I attend Yearsley swimming baths regularly, it being the only bath where one can have a decent swim as it is 50 yards in length. If sold this pool would at best be turned into a theme baths.

The council should be giving residents more facilities, not fewer.

Clive Dawson,

Sycamore Terrace,

Bootham, York.

...With regard to concerns about the swimming pools in York, how would it be if those who use the pools took over responsibility for running a swimming pool? These swimmers could form a trust or charity making it easier to obtain money from other sources and to receive a grant from the council.

The swimming pool would then be a facility that belonged to the people who used it and the accountability would be shared amongst its trustees and supporters who use it every day.

Keith Chapman,

Custance Walk,

St Benedick Estate, York.

...A few comments and a reminder about the high level of thinking that went into the Barbican Centre a few years ago.

This was for a complex that saw leisure in its widest sense, a full range of facilities for the people of York. But this is now under threat and what will we get in its place if the pools are closed?

Granted, the Barbican pool desperately needs a revamp, particularly the poolsides and the changing areas, but these are excellent facilities that just desperately need some tender loving care. This pool is so near the city centre, so accessible and so functional and I feel sure that many swimmers and future generations would be the poorer for the loss of these two pools, one of which is ideal for learners.

What would the replacement be? A fun pool? Hopeless for swimmers, fun for young families perhaps, but run more on balance sheet lines rather than on health and fitness criteria.

Health and fitness is a national issue. York should get hold of this idea and develop the Barbican as a beacon for healthy lifestyles and not destroy the vision that brought this imaginative complex together in the first place.

Kevin Douglas,

Lime Avenue,

York.

...I regularly attend Yearsley Swimming Pool for these reasons:

u I am able to swim when it is convenient to me.

u Yearsley is the best-sized pool in York and even when there are a lot of people in it there is always room to swim. It is also within walking distance and there is no other pool in this area of York.

u The staff are friendly and efficient.

u Although Yearsley is old, it is one of the cleanest pools in York.

I sincerely hope Yearsley will not close. I pay local taxes and feel that using this pool is one of the main pleasures made available to me in York.

Jill Maris,

High Petergate, York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.