Swimming in Newham Position Statement - 21/05/08

The London Borough of Newham will be the Host Borough for the 2012 Games. Newham residents will be the key community to benefit from the building of the Aquatics Centre.

In preparation for the Aquatics Centre becoming available for public use and to ensure that competitive swimming in Newham is ready to take advantage of such a fantastic facility, Newham council has committed to writing a facilities development strategy and a swimming strategy, which incorporates all the aquatic disciplines.

The council has been working with London Swimming to develop the strategy and ensure it is inline with the Strategy to Get London Swimming, which is endorsed by the GLA and Sport England London Region.

London Swimming has been consulting with the largest swimming club in the borough – the London Borough of Newham Swimming Club. The Club have worked with the Development Officer to produce an action of plan that details how the strategy will be developed.

A quality assessment of swimming activities in the Borough has been the first step. Nick Juba (Head Coach for the Commonwealth Youth Games England Team) has been observing club sessions, the leisure provider lessons (run by GLL) and school swimming lessons (run by GLL). A report will then be produced detailing Nick’s findings from the quality assessment, which will include a recommendations section for a pathway for swimming in the Borough. 

Nick has been working closely with the London Borough of Newham Swimming Club and even led a few of their sessions.

Nick is to complete the project at the end of May. He will then circulate a report to all key groups and meet with each individually. Once this is complete all the interested groups will come together and decide the next steps. This is the body of your article