Delight at new Peterborough hydro pool plans
Proposals for a new hydrotherapy pool to be sited in Werrington have been roundly welcomed.
Local residents and hydrotherapy provision campaign groups are among those who have praised the proposition of a third-party organisation redeveloping the site of The Barn on Hodgson Avenue to accommodate a hydrotherapy and rehabilitation facility.
“I’m so, so pleased,” said elated Werrington Councillor John Fox (Peterborough First), who has championed the opening of a new hydrotherapy for more than five years.
“This is going to be the best thing that’s happened, in not just Werrington but Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and far beyond,” he said, adding: “people really, really do benefit from it [hydrotherapy].”
Calls for a new hydrotherapy pool to be built in Peterborough have been consistently loud since the City Council closed its St George’s community hydrotherapy pool in Dogsthorpe in 2022.
Though several initiatives to continue providing hydrotherapy services in the city were put forward, nothing concrete materialised.
Campaigner Karen Oldale of the St George’s Friends and Service Users’ spoke last year 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.
Peterborough City Council Cabinet will be asked to approve the redevelopment of The Barn at its scheduled meeting on Tuesday, January 20.