New hope for hydrotherapy pool in Peterborough
Peterborough City Councillors are set to rubber-stamp plans intended to establish a new hydrotherapy and rehabilitation facility in Werrington.
According to a report to go before Councillors at this month’s Cabinet meeting on January 20, a third-party organisation has proposed to redevelop the site of The Barn on Hodgson Avenue to accommodate a hydrotherapy and rehabilitation facility.
Council officers have recommended the plans for approval.
Such a facility – which would incorporate robotic-assisted therapy equipment – would align with the council’s Health and Wellbeing priorities. Moreover, the re-introduction of hydrotherapy provision would likely go down very well with local residents and campaign groups.
Indeed, there have been vocal calls for a new hydrotherapy pool to be built in Peterborough since 2022 when the City Council announced its St George’s community hydrotherapy pool would not reopen following a survey which revealed it required repairs costing more than £270,000.
At the time of the pool closing, Karen Oldale, St George’s Friends and Service Users’ Lead, spoke of the frustration people felt following the loss of St George’s:
“We know the loss of access to a hydrotherapy pool has had a very detrimental impact on many local people’s health and wellbeing,” she said.
“Even now I regularly receive messages from people who are absolutely desperate to access a hydrotherapy pool.”
The intended site, The Barn, is currently leased to the Personalised Eating Disorder Group (PEDS), which delivers local mental health and wellbeing support. The rear land is currently surplus and not used for any operational or public use.
The report says the proposed purchaser and developer of the hydrotherapy pool has confirmed they only require the land to the rear of The Barn to enable the development.
Despite this, the report acknowledges that there is a “medium” risk PEDS may lose their community facility if it turns out they are unable to remain or relocate.