Swimming returns for local residents at Aviemore resort
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The doors to the swimming pool at the Macdonald Aviemore Resort are finally reopening to local users today after a breakthrough in the wrangle.
Successful talks between Highland Council and resort owners Macdonald Hotels mean High Life Highland members can access the leisure facilities again with immediate effect.
They had been barred from using the pool, steam room, sauna and jacuzzi since the end of last year because of the dispute between the two parties.
Discussions took place in Inverness on Friday between council leader Margaret Davidson, council convener Bill Lobban and Macdonald Hotels chairman Donald Macdonald.
The arrangements will operate initially on a rolling monthly basis but it is hoped this will be extended for a period of up to three years.
Mr Macdonald said: “I am very grateful to Bill Lobban for brokering this meeting which was open and positive. Everyone who attended was clear in their desire to reach a long-term resolution to the situation in order to get local people back into the facilities on a sustainable basis.
“With that in mind, we have agreed to resume the previous arrangements at Aviemore and look forward to welcoming locals back into the pool and leisure facilities with immediate effect.”
The HLH scheme provides affordable access to swimming in the village for many local families and individuals.
The nearest public facility to Aviemore is at the Craig MacLean Sports Centre in Grantown but swim sessions are more limited.
Councillor Lobban, also local member for Badenoch and Strathspey, said: “I would like to personally thank Mr Macdonald for his generous and community-spirited offer to allow local access to the swimming pool.
“Whilst no specific agreement has yet been reached, given the willingness on behalf of both the council and Macdonald Hotels to get round the table without any preconditions, I am hopeful of a positive outcome.”
The breakdown this latest time is understood to have been related to an as yet unspecified matter and not the funding on the table from the council which has been the main issue in the past.
Highland Council paid the hotel group £205,000 for access to the pool over the 12 months to November, last year, as part of an interim deal.
A community campaign Save Our Swimming 2018 was launched in the summer of that year following the doors closing then to HLH users before re-opening that Autumn.
Pupils from Aviemore Primary School had written to Mr Macdonald imploring him to let them go swimming again. Local GPs and aquafit users – some in their eighties – had also gone public with their health concerns.
More on this story in today's Strathy.
