Sport Aberdeen boss casts doubt over Bucksburn pool timeline

Work to undo the closure of controversial closure of Bucksburn swimming pool could run into 2026, it’s feared.

News of another dry year in the Aberdeen suburb comes after a farcical council U-turn over the community facility’s closure.

And, as public spending is slashed, The Press and Journal can reveal the whole shambles will come at the cost of hopes for a new multi-million-pound sports centre in the north of Aberdeen.

Bucksburn pool, drained after its closure caused by Aberdeen City Council budget cuts in 2023. Image: Anonymous poster/Imgur

Plans for a multipurpose wellbeing centre in the grounds of Teca have been “put on the backburner” amid ongoing financial straits at Aberdeen City Council and its arms-length leisure charity Sport Aberdeen.

And the case for the shiny new facility has been made all the harder because of the big bill to reinstate Bucksburn pool – even though it was in need of investment even before its closure.

Why did Bucksburn pool close?

Despite widespread protest, the Kepplehills Road baths shut unceremoniously as a result of the SNP and Liberal Democrat making swingeing budget cuts in March 2023.

The cull also closed six libraries.

Aberdeen City Council’s arms-length external leisure organisation (ALEO) Sport Aberdeen was slapped with a £700,000 cut to its grant.

One of the many protests against the closure of Bucksburn pool was held on April 30 2023. Image: Wullie Marr / DC Thomson

But the local authority was forced into a humiliating climbdown nine months later, faced with the prospect of an embarrassing court challenge highlighting a lack of basic consultation and impact assessments about the pool closure.

Council chiefs in December revealed it would cost between £750,000 and £1 million to recommission Bucksburn swimming pool.

At the same time, council property boss Stephen Booth estimated it was a nine-month project, meaning the doors could have been expected to reopen late this year or early in 2025.

Since then, it has become an overgrown eyesore.

Sport Aberdeen chief: ‘I would be surprised if work to recommission Bucksburn pool started this year’

But now Sport Aberdeen chief executive Keith Heslop, whose charity will run the revitalised pool, is casting significant doubt about when swimmers will be able to go for a dip.

Sport Aberdeen chief executive Keith Heslop. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson

He tells The P&J: “The council is still looking at the upgrades required and scoping out the work.

“Sport Aberdeen is indirectly involved but we have highlighted what needs to be done to keep the facility going for at least the next 10 years.

“We want to ensure the work is done right and done once. But the council is driving this and I know their physical work hasn’t started.

“And, personally, I would be surprised if it started this year. Therefore, I think you’re looking at it not opening until 2025 or 2026.”

Wishlist Teca leisure centre ‘on the backburner’

Meanwhile, the Sport Aberdeen chief executive also accepts that the Bucksburn pool reopening will bump one of his big wants way down the priority list.

In a first sit-down interview with The Press and Journal since taking the job, he revealed his belief that “multipurpose wellbeing centres” were the “financially robust” way forward for his charity.

The P&J Live arena at Teca on the edge of Bucksburn. Image: Darrell Benns.

And before the Bucksburn pool closure, Sport Aberdeen had been eyeing up a new £20m sports centre at nearby Teca.

“The recommissioning of Bucksburn will absolutely push back any plans for that though,” he adds.

“Part of my role is to make sure that there are no surprises – for Sport Aberdeen or the council.

“And having engaged with them to see what we can reasonably do within a certain timeframe, it’s clear to me that capital projects are under great financial pressure right now.

“Unless they are compulsory, they are being pushed down the road.

“So I’d love to still see a multipurpose facility at Teca. But right now it’s on the backburner.”

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A couple of days after we published this article, an Aberdeen City Council spokesman said the local authority is “committed” to reopening Bucksburn pool.

He added: “Before that can happen, work needs to be carried out to upgrade its condition.

“Survey and design development work is ongoing behind the scenes, in order to quantify and optimise the scale of the works required, to bring the facility back into use, and ensure it is an asset within the community for years to come.”