New ramp will expand swimming pool's community use

The application, for a concrete ramp and steel handrail to provide disabled access to the pool at Glendale Middle School in Wooler, was unanimously approved at last Thursday’s (November 22) meeting of the North Northumberland Local Area Council.

The scheme, which was not controversial in the slightest but had to be determined by committee as it is a county-council application, would ordinarily be considered permitted development and therefore not require planning permission.

However, as the ramp would be within five metres of the boundary of the curtilage of the school site, on Brewery Road, permission is required.

The ward member for Wooler, Coun Anthony Murray, said: “We believe this swimming pool is a tremendous asset in our community.

“We need this ramp to satisfy the needs of disabled people who currently have to go to Alnwick or Berwick to swim.”

Ben O'Connell, Local Democracy Reporting Service