Decision made is one that puts lives of children at risk

Consternation surrounding the abandonment of a new leisure centre by the Reform UK-led Executive in Bradford is understandable, particularly given surfeit of drowning tragedies this summer.

Across the country, people who have underestimated the challenges associated with swimming in seas, rivers, lakes and quarries have found themselves unable to reach safety.

Just this Friday, little Saja El-Jhawas passed away just six years old, three days after her father, mother and sister lost their lives to the sea off the coast of Shoreham-by-Sea.

It is an unimaginable tragedy that has hit the national headlines, breaking the hearts of strangers whose compassion towards the family was stirred by the news of their passing.

Their perishing to the water serves an unwelcome reminder that people lose their lives in this way in numbers more than fire, flooding or knife crime. Loss of life through drowning has been declared a ‘public health disaster’ which, in order to combat it, requires a national strategy directive.

The Reform-led group in Bradford has said it cannot afford the new sports centre and swimming pool on Squire Lane in Girlington, but with obesity ruining lives and in the context of so many people succumbing to drowning, the more pertinent question is perhaps: can Bradfordians afford to not have such a facility? It is a matter of fact, as pointed out by Swim England, that the number of children growing up in the area who are competent in the water is way below the national average. That means the children for whom this decision has been taken are more likely to lose their lives to the water.

Make no mistake, the burden of having financial responsibility for public money at any council is a heavy one, and Bradford’s fiscal predicament is perilous. But lives, here, are at risk.