Redbridge will have its long-awaited swimming pool before May 2018.
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson visits the temporary pool at Wanstead - Credit: Archant
The leader of Redbridge Council, Jas Athwal, has said he will “guarantee and ensure” that the borough would have a new swimming pool before the next election.
Deputy leader of the council, Wes Streeting, added: “We will look to do this quickly to give residents the pool they have been waiting for for so long.”
Cllr Athwal dismissed plans to build the pool at Valentines Park, Barley Lane Recreation Ground or South Park stating that somewhere more suitable would be sought.
The council heard that the Labour administration would explore how the new pool could regenerate an area of Redbridge.
Only one swimming pool has served the borough since the closure of the Ilford Baths in 2008, leading to long waiting lists for children hoping to learn to swim.
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson added his voice to calls for action on the issue when he visited a temporary pool in Wanstead in March.
He said: “There is one pool for 290,000 people here and the sums just don’t add up.”
