A million-pound, wave-shaped, Olympic-sized, accessible sea pool could open as part of an Isle of Wight seafront’s major regeneration project.
Swim The Wight, a community social enterprise, is fronting plans to build a sheltered, accessible, sustainable, low maintenance, eco sea pool in Yaverland, to help people become more comfortable and safe with the sea.
It could be built into the sea defences along the esplanade and be suitable for triathletes, local swimming groups and the general public to use.
Project leader, Sue Barker, said it could also have rock pools to one side and be accessible from both the esplanade and beach with a ramp to access the pool.
Swim The Wight has launched a survey asking residents, either swimmers or non-swimmers, what their attitudes are to the sea and what they would think of a sea pool. It is open until the end of September and can be filled in here: swimthewight.org.uk/seapool
A science centre is also forming part of the plans, which could provide real-time water quality testing of the sea pool, and the rest of the Island.
The group has also been working with Southern Water to monitor the quality of the water in the Bay daily, and Sue hopes the real-time testing would allay people’s fear of pollution in the sea, and therefore in the pool.
Sue said it was just as important to make the sea pool accessible from the esplanade and the beach, as the stretch of sand from the Sundial Cafe in Sandown through the Yaverland Sailing Club is inaccessible for those with mobility issues.
By including the sea pool as part of the defences, could also cut costs down by 90 per cent, Sue said, with a freestanding pool ringing up around £10 million, compared to £1 million for the current plans.
The sea defences are currently in the process of being replaced as they have reached the end of their useful lives.
If nothing is done to fix the sea defences in the coming years, it is estimated they could be breached within the next five to ten years.
The Environment Agency is devising plans to fix the defences and will be consulting residents later this year, but Swim The Wight is hopeful the sea pool will be included as one of the best way forward.
A challenge Swim The Wight now has is proving the pool would not have a negative impact on the marine environment and that it would also be a viable option, through a feasibility study.
The group is working with renowned architect Chris Romer-Lee, from Studio Octopi, who has designed pools in Scotland and Ireland and is currently working on a floating pool for the River Thames in London.
It is also using the expertise of local ecological engineers Artecology, based in Sandown, who create regenerative environments for marine wildlife among other things.
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