SETTLE’S love for its community swimming pool was evident in abundance as more than 100 supporters turned out for an open evening on the pool's finances.

Last week's successful meeting, held after a warning that the pool was at serious risk of closing because of energy costs and a failed bid for Government funding, saw the setting up of a new community fund-raising initiatives group to help raise much-needed financial support.

The new group, consisting mainly of volunteers, will work with the trustees to look at additional ways of fund-raising alongside those already in place.

The scale of the problem facing the pool was made clear when the meeting was told that at present expenditure exceeds income at the rate of £10,000 a month. The main cause is a gas bill of £6,000 a month resulting from a long-term contract with the Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation, the public sector procurement group that provides services to many organisations including schools and colleges.

While this had initially been very beneficial, prices were now well above the market rate, the meeting was told. Despite efforts to get out of the contract, including the intervention of Skipton MP Julian Smith, it had proved impossible to do so before April 2025. Prices are expected to fall substantially in the spring when usage will also go down. But this alone will not cover the monthly deficit that is expected to continue to eat into the reserves currently standing at around £75,000.

A further setback was the fact that the pool, along with all others in North Yorkshire did not receive a grant from the government’s £20m swimming pool support fund that was administered by Sport England. Applications for a further tranche have opened and the pool has applied for support.

The meeting was told that a number of measures had already been taken both to increase income and cut expenditure. These included the setting up of a second charity shop, the creation of a pool membership scheme, and looking at the possibility of creating a campervan parking site – something which had proved a major fund raiser for a local pool in Scotland.

Among the ideas arising out the meeting was holding regular sponsored events, the creation of a group of ‘patrons’, greater promotion of regular giving and, of crucial importance the greater use of pool facilities, which has grown substantially over the past year but is still well below maximum capacity.

In the immediate future a pool team will again be taking part in the Skipton Rotary Club dragon boat event at Coniston Hall on May12. A plea was made for paddlers and sponsors to come forward.

Anyone wishing to join the group who has not already been in touch with trustee Elaine Owen is asked to send their contact details to secretary@settleswimmingpool.co.uk or leave them at the pool or one of the two pool charity shops in the town.

A spokesperson for the Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation said: "YPO truly understands the difficulties businesses are facing with high energy costs, especially swimming pools and leisure centres. We have been supporting customers through challenging times, particularly since 2021-2022 when the sharp rise in energy costs were first felt due to the global recovery from the Covid pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"During this time, YPO acted to secure maximum subsidy from the UK government for all our customers. Our strategy both protected them from even higher prices during the worst of the crisis and will see a return to much lower prices from as early as April this year.

"The energy supply to Settle swimming pool was originally procured through a four-year contract until 2025, between YPO and Craven District Council, which has since been absorbed into the North Yorkshire Council contract. In this instance, the contract YPO has in place is with North Yorkshire Council, and not with individual sites such as schools, leisure centres and swimming pools.

"The energy that North Yorkshire council buys through the YPO Energy Framework is acquired using a flexible contract. When North Yorkshire Council/Craven District Council joined this framework, it did so with a large group of public sector customers. This means YPO can purchase and trade gas and electricity at the best market price available at the time of trading.

"As part of this agreement, the energy is pre-purchased in advance. This means that the energy for 2024 has been purchased already during the last six months, based on the estimated consumption the council provided at the start of the financial year. North Yorkshire Council is responsible for submitting annual consumptions rates (energy usage) for each of its sites, including Settle swimming pool.

"The YPO energy team has been in contact with Settle swimming pool since October 2023, and provided insightful information through calls and emails to explain the mechanics of the framework and the indicative costs for months up to April 2025, when the contract ends.

"YPO will continue to support its customers, either those directly contracted through our framework such as North Yorkshire Council, as well as the indirect customers such as Settle swimming pool."