TWO volunteer groups working on separate plans to provide a public swimming pool in Minehead have agreed to join forces.

Minehead Health and Wellbeing (MHWB) and Minehead Swimming and Leisure (MSL) will now work together to achieve their aim ‘for the benefit of all in the West Somerset area’.

MHWB director Bruce Lang, a former district council chief executive and well-known local sportsman, said his group had considerable experience in project development, local government, finance, public health, fund-raising, leisure, swimming development, and education, while MSL had wide experience in community consultation and structures.

Mr Lang said: “We make an ideal partnership.

“There is a lot of work to do, but by working together and combining our local knowledge and expertise, we hope to deliver a project that will benefit all of the local Minehead and West Somerset community.”

MSL founding director Peter Wellstood said: “The two groups have a lot in common when it comes to our ambitions for the local community, and we view our coming together as a real boost toward finally making the facility a reality.

Minehead Health and Wellbeing says it has 'pre-planning approval' for a swimming pool to be built on the Irnham Road recreation ground. PHOTO: Google Maps.
Minehead’s Irnham Road recreation ground has 'pre-planning approval' for a swimming pool development. PHOTO: Google Maps. ( )

“MSL values the relevant backgrounds and skills of the MHWB directors and feels we all have the best chance of being successful by closely collaborating.

“It remains important to us that the facility be community-owned under MSL’s original model.”

The two groups have asked Minehead Town Council to formalise its support for the scheme and earmark land for the project at the town’s Irnham Road Recreation Ground, of which it has just taken ownership from Somerset Council.

Their shared vision is for a 25-metre pool suitable for year-round use, a gym to be used by the local community, and a base for the West Somerset GP exercise referral scheme, enabling it to develop its current and well-subscribed offer.

The groups have agreed to try to raise the costs of the build from a variety of grant funding sources, with new opportunities becoming available later this year.

Once the pool is built and ready to operate, the groups intend for it to be a community-owned facility run as a co-operative.

MSL is a community benefit society established in 2020 to build a community-owned indoor public swimming pool and leisure centre.

MHWB is a community interest company formed in 2024 to provide facilities including a swimming pool which will improve the health and wellbeing of the local community.

Key individuals from both groups have long been working toward those aims, motivated by the closure of Minehead’s council-owned Aquasplash swimming pool in 2008.

The groups plan shortly to carry out a community-wide consultation exercise as part of the business planning for the project to come up with robust forecasts for revenue and likely user numbers.

Residents of West Somerset who want to demonstrate their support for the project, and eventually have a stake in the ownership of the community-run facility, can join by going to the MSL website.

MHWB said it already had ‘pre-planning approval’ for a centrally located, publicly owned site for the project.