A new action group has been formed to fight Richmond Council's decision to convert the former 28 year old health suite at Pools on the Park to a group exercise studio.

The decision, which was made on 7 November, proposes to build a group exercise studio, which will hold 17 weekly health improvement classes, each with space for 10 people.

The new studio will cost around £140,000 to build, with minimal running costs.

The health suite has been closed since March 2020 when the first COVID lockdown happened and then 18 months later in September 2021, the council announced it would not be reopening. 

In July 2022, the council stripped it to investigate options for its future.

Martin Baker, one of the three founders of the Health Suite Action Group said: "This saga has been dragging on for over three and a half years and to say that Richmond Council has handled this matter in a disgraceful manner would be an understatement."

The group has laid out five objections to the plans.

Their first objection states that there has been a broken commitment made to former health suite users in August 2023, that no decision would be made on its future until the leisure strategy work was complete. 

The group says: "The leisure strategy will now be brought to committee in Spring 2024 (at the earliest) but for some reason, Richmond Council allowed the health suite decision to go ahead on 7 November 2023. A formal complaint has been submitted on this point."

Their second objection invloves the 'misuse of allocated funding'.

The group says: "A £187K budget was first agreed for "Health Suite Refurbishment" in February 2022. "Refurbishment has a very specific meaning.

"It certainly does not mean conversion of a room for a different purpose. Therefore the council's proposal to convert the room to a group exercise studio was invalid and requires a misuse of allocated budget."

They have also submitted a formal complaint on this point.

Their third objection is that they feel that the council has ignored residents' views - in 2021 a survey showed that 84% of member respondents and 68% of non-member respondents supported the health suit respondents and that 74 respondents wanted a health suite whereas only 13 respondents wanted more group exercise space in the 2023 leisure centre survey.

Their fourth objection states: "All projected demand for group exercise studio was derived from computer modelling resulting in an insignificant 1% increase in Pools on the Park memberships over one year when actual data shows that memberships are down by 42% since 2019.

"This amounts to a loss of nearly £550K revenue a year at Pools on the Park which is an astonishing figure."

They said that their final objection was that committee members were poorly informed by the council and were not provided with sufficient background information.

A spokesperson from Richmond Council said: "The conversion of the space into a group exercise studio enables the Council to provide a more diverse and inclusive programme of activity for residents of all ages and helps us to meet our vision of a healthier borough, where more people can be more active, more often.

"This is in line with the Council's ambition to provide inclusive leisure services that support better health and wellbeing for all residents."