Tottenham Green Pools and Fitness has been closed for more than two months because of an electrical fault, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

A swimming club has slammed leisure provider Fusion over the ongoing closure of a Tottenham sports centre – as Haringey Council confirmed repair works had not fully begun.

Haringey Aquatics warned swimmers face “months of inconvenience” and said some had already left the club as Tottenham Green Pools and Fitness remains closed more than two months after it was shut down because of flooding and an electrical fault.

Following the closure at the beginning of the year, Fusion – a charity that runs the council-owned centre – said it hoped to announce a reopening date in mid-January. But two months on, a date has yet to be confirmed. The swimming pools at another Fusion-run centre, Park Road Pools and Fitness in Crouch End, were also closed in January but reopened the following month.

The council has now revealed repairs to its Tottenham Green centre are set to begin “in earnest” on 14th March. Fusion says it is “working closely with the council and with insurers to get the building open again as soon as possible”. The leisure provider has allowed members to use its centres in Enfield and Crouch End in the meantime.

David Skinner, chair of sports club Haringey Aquatics, said the pools at Tottenham Green were likely to be closed “until the summer at least”, leaving swimmers facing the prospect of “months of inconvenience and long journeys to alternative training venues”.

He added: “Some have left the club, and others have reduced the number of times they are training each week, undermining their competitiveness. The closure will also adversely affect the number of children seeking to join the club from our, or other, Learn to Swim programmes.”

David said the club was “appalled” by the “failure” of Fusion Lifestyle to maintain the leisure centre, which he said played a “vital role” in a borough “with one of the lowest ratios of pool space per capita in London and only two leisure centres with public pools”. He expressed deep concerns over the uncertainty regarding the centre’s reopening and called on Haringey Council “to ensure that Tottenham Green is fully operational as soon as possible”.

Sarah Williams, the council’s cabinet member for finance and local investment, acknowledged that residents had been “hugely inconvenienced” and said it was “not acceptable that we are still without sports facilities, a library and customer service centre”.

Cllr Willams said: “There have now been promising discussions with the operator Fusion Lifestyle in the last few days about how we can, in the first instance, reopen the library and customer service centre. The issues have been caused by an electrical failure.”

The Labour cabinet member said Fusion Lifestyle had confirmed last Thursday (2nd) that it had “issued an instruction to highly-specialist contractors to mobilise and start fixing the issue”. She added: “Unless there is a problem with obtaining the parts, Fusion has assured us that the contractors will begin the repairs in earnest on 14th March. Once those repairs commence, it will then become clearer when the library, customer service centre and nursery can open.”

Cllr Williams said the council had to “prioritise the safety of our residents” but added that the authority was doing everything it could to reopen the centre “as soon as possible”.

Fusion Lifestyle said in a statement: “We know that the ongoing closure at Tottenham Green Pools and Fitness is frustrating and we continue to work closely with the council and with insurers to get the building open again as soon as possible.”

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