SIR, I believe the proposed plans for building a £60million swimming pool in the centre of Birmingham are severely flawed and should be dropped immediately.

There is a general lack of interest around the country in swimming as a pastime, and many councils are wisely closing costly, unprofitable and decaying swimming pools almost on a weekly basis, yet blinkered Birmingham City Council wants to jump in at the deep end and spend vast amounts of ratepayer’s money on a white elephant.

If this venture goes ahead, Birmingham people will see their Council Tax repayments vastly increased to fund it. Private sector operators won’t be so anxious to throw their own money at a swimming pool which appeals to just a few patrons. Swimming pools are just not seen as lucrative investments,

The running costs, estimated at £400,000 per annum, have been plucked out of the sky! The annual wage bill alone, for management, office staff, maintenance workers, caterers, cashiers, swimming teachers, lifeguards, health and safety officers, security staff would come to considerably more than this figure.

The Council has completely forgotten that the real operating costs which would include rent and rates on a massive building in the most expensive part of the city would be astronomical. The heating costs of the pool and building alone would be prohibitive, not to mention gas, electric, telephone, public liability insurance, ongoing maintenance and many other costs which need to be accounted for.

Operating costs of well over £1.5million per annum would be a more realistic figure. Remember, the Council is claiming that the operating costs may have to be met through cuts in the Leisure Services budget, together with the closure of other pools in the city. Other Leisure Services facilities will have to be trimmed, if not closed down altogether.

Citizens cannot understand the obsession in wanting an expensive 50 metre pool when the Council has seen fit to close many pools around the city in recent years. The vast majority of Birmingham’s ratepayers are not keen enough to go to their local pool in large enough numbers to make their local pools financially viable.

A 50 metre pool in the City would be the biggest waste of money ever seen, and the ratepayers, who would never set foot inside the building, would be paying.

Graham Short

Bournville

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Wanton disregard of Billy Bunter centenary

Sir, It is a matter of surprise and deep regret that in the year just ended the centenary of one of the most popular and easily recognisable figures in English fiction was disregarded - Billy Bunter rolled on to the pages of the Magnet and into the public consciousness. His creator, Frank Richards, provided his cholesterolly-challenged hero with contemporaries almost as memorable as Bunter himself - Harry Wharton, Bob Cherry, Horace Coker, the indefatigable Mr Quelch (‘a beast but a just beast’),and more.

Sad to say, last year saw no special stamp issues bearing the unmistakable likeness, and no commemorative five-pound coin within whose parameters the well-rounded Bunter contours would have fitted so snugly.

Worst of all, Gordon Brown missed a golden opportunity to boost his flagging popularity by proclaiming a national ‘Billy Bunter Day’.

There are two more literary anniversaries on the horizon - 2012 sees the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, and 2016 the quartercentenary of the death of Shakespeare. If Billy Bunter has been so wantonly disregarded, what possible hope is there be for them?

Barrie Francis

Selly Oak

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Jaguar Land Rover

has an essential role

in business community

Sir, Firstly may I applaud the Birmingham Post for taking the initiative and calling for action to support Jaguar Land Rover and the UK motor industry at this time.

Focusing on Jaguar Land Rover I would like to record my personal support and that of my organisation for Jaguar Land Rover and offer a different perspective of the company, its importance to so many and the unique place it occupies in the region’s economies and communities.

For more than ten years as a member of Business in the Community, Jaguar and Land Rover have played a key role in contributing and influencing responsible business practice in the region and nationally and have inspired other businesses to get involved through their leadership and practical support. In 2000 Jaguar Land Rover supported and led a national programme, matched by the DTI, to provide community leaders with senior business managers. Over three years 200 community partners were matched with senior business leaders benefitting from each party’s experience becoming more sustainable and effective.

Each Jaguar Land Rover site hosts an Education and Business partnership centre where thousands of pupils from education institutions across the region have been able to visit and learn in a ‘real work’ environment what modern auto engineering and manufacturing is all about.

Jaguar Land Rover has never forgotten its roots, ensuring that in Coventry, Birmingham, Solihull and Liverpool, employees are encouraged and supported to offer their expertise and skills to support their local communities. They recognise that through these activities their people are developing skills, encouraging employment and revitalising local economies.

Jaguar Land Rover has never accepted that they have a right to exist and have reacted to the challenge presented by the climate change agenda, customer expectations and the marketplace.

At our May Day Summit last year they presented the new LRX concept car for 200 delegates to see and hear about the environmental credentials that underpin the investment they are making in new technologies that will address emissions and meet customer expectations. An £800?million investment programme in environmental technologies will develop new products and new people skills ensuring that they remain competitive and the region prospers.

In keeping with other familiar West Midlands business icons, Jaguar Land Rover are watchwords for responsible business practice demonstrated by their leadership, their community support, their education work, their championship of industry and their environmental best practice.

As you so rightly pointed out in your article they are not looking for bail-out.

They are not a washed-up company but they are a responsible business, leading many initiatives both industry related and benefitting society, operating in a global market with first class products, a commitment to new technologies and belief in the skills and abilities of its UK workforce.

I am proud to have Jaguar Land Rover as a prominent member of Business in the Community and wholeheartedly support your campaign.

David Darlaston

Regional Director,

Business in the Community