A TIDE of anger is rising against “shambolic” facilities at Prudhoe’s Waterworld swimming pool.

The leisure centre is undergoing a revamp to improve and extend the gym and fitness spaces.

However, some in the town are frustrated that none of the £915,589 Active Northumberland investment will be poured into the centre’s pool facilities.

And disruption caused by the construction work has provoked anger among some residents.

Construction workers on the poolside, dust and debris, and closed off changing facilities are some of the issues causing concern among pool users.

Prudhoe resident Laura Rusby has been taking her son Joseph to the pool since he was 14 weeks old and regularly pays £77 to enrol him for a term’s worth of lessons.

However, she says had she been aware of the level of disruption to the pool, she may have taken her son elsewhere.

Laura, 34, has written to Active Northumberland expressing “disappointment and dissatisfaction with the current health and safety practices and complete shambles of the poolside changing facilities at Prudhoe Waterworld”.

Last week Laura says she arrived for her son’s Aqua Tots lesson to find that the parent and child changing area had been closed off without warning due to construction work.

With no accessible alternative, Laura now takes her two-and-a-half year-old son to a poolside changing room, with no safety gates to prevent him running into the water.

Laura has described this as a “breach of care” by Active Northumberland and says that no thought has been given to the well-being of paying pool users who will not benefit from the revamp.

She said: “They’re spending nearly £1m to upgrade the gym and fitness suite, none is being spent on the pool, and it seems that the pool is getting the most disruption.

“From a health and safety point of view it’s extremely worrying.

“There’s a lot of dust and debris falling around, there are regularly workmen on the poolside and when there are so many children around I think it’s a huge problem.

“One week they were drilling and banging as we were coming out and one toddler was crying because of the noise.

“I appreciate the work has to be done but do they need to work there when there are classes for small children taking place?

“It’s a shame more money wasn’t spent on the pool, there are broken tiles.

“The toilets are disgusting and some of the showers and hairdryers are regularly broken.

“But it seems to be all to be about the gym and nothing about the pool because the gym is where they make the money.

“I think it’s quite sad that it’s happening. It’s getting to the point where I’m going to start looking elsewhere.

“I want to support our local community, I don’t want to go out of the area and put my money into another council but I have to put my child’s safety first.”

And Laura is not alone in her views, after taking to Facebook page People of Prudhoe, to air her frustration many people rallied to her cause.

Comments branded the current standards at the facility as “horrendous” and “appalling”.

The poolside floors were also described as having “bits of rubble everywhere”.

A spokesman from Northumberland County Council said: “During the work we have introduced alternative arrangements and measures to ensure that customers can still use the facility safely.

“We are committed to the safety of centre users and take all health and safety concerns very seriously.

“This includes ensuring that contractors put all necessary measures in place.

“If customers have found the alternative arrangements difficult we have offered the option to use Hexham or Ponteland leisure centres until the work is complete.

“We apologise for any inconvenience to users and ask them to bear with us during this work, which will make the centre more modern, better equipped and more attractive both for existing and prospective new members.”

kathleen.moore@hexham-courant.co.uk