A CITY councillor has put issues at Winchester’s leisure centre down to a lack of staffing.

City councillor Sue Cook has slammed Winchester Sport and Leisure Park, which cost £43m to build, for a series of neglect issues.

The Colden Common and Twyford ward councillor, who uses the facility run by Everyone Active to swim, made a list of complaints following her visit on Sunday, February 12.

These included: rubbish in the car park, a lack of operational hair driers, out of order disabled shower, clumps of hair in the shower, no toilet paper, a cold pool, talcum powder and other matter left on the floor for months and only one person behind the desk at peak time.

READ MORE: Winchester City Councillor Sue Cook resigns from Conservatives

Cllr Cook said: “I’m disgusted. The place looked shambolic on Sunday and that is not what I pay my money for. People need to know it’s not acceptable.

“It comes down to a lack of staff. If you’ve got staffing issues you’ve got to get stuck in. We don’t want it to become like River Park, the leisure centre is the jewel of the Nile and that needs maintaining.”

Area contract manager at the leisure centre in Bar End, Alison Lewis, said: “We would like to reassure customers that we take the quality and cleanliness of our leisure centre very seriously.
“We’re aware of recent concerns raised and are currently rectifying these issues. This includes recruiting a new cleaning team, ensuring strict cleaning regimes are in place and prioritising repairs within the changing room facilities.​
“With regard to the swimming pool water temperature, we can confirm it has not been adjusted. It is currently set between 29 and 29.5 degrees, which follows guidance issued by Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group (PWTAG).

SEE ALSO: Winchester City Council provides update on the sport and leisure park

“The health and wellbeing of the local community is our top priority and we will continue to work hard to offer customers a welcoming environment, for everyone to enjoy.”

In recent months other members have taken to the Facebook group Winchester Rants to express their concerns.

Lee Bryan commented: “It has great facilities but really could do with a clean.”

An anonymous member posted: “We built a new leisure centre, it has 25m of extra pool but no all-weather pitches or additional facilities. We have to drive outside of Winchester to play matches at an awesome facility at Ganger Farm (near Romsey) - why can't Winchester build one of these?”

Cllr Cook’s recent move to become an independent councillor means she can no longer sit on the Winchester Sport and Leisure Park Advisory Board.

The councillor, who has been raising questions over staffing for the past year, said that others share her feelings and haven’t had their complaints addressed.