FUN for families and young people should be at the heart of Helensburgh’s new swimming pool and leisure centre.

That’s according to a survey carried out by Helensburgh Community Council (HCC) on proposed designs for the facility, which will lie at the heart of the town’s £18 million waterfront redevelopment.

According to the results of the survey, shared with the Advertiser ahead of a meeting with project officials this week, more than 120 people said fun elements were crucial to getting families, younger children and teenagers to use the new Helensburgh pool instead of travelling to other leisure centres elsewhere.

The survey also found that less than half of the 1,109 people who took part approved of the overall waterfront development plan.

On top of that, almost two thirds – 62 per cent – did not agree with the northern edge of the development site, alongside West Clyde Street, being designated for retail use.

And more than two thirds opposed the reduction in parking spaces as a result of the proposal – from around 500 at present to around 265 under the design proposals.

Members of the community council were expected to meet project officials to discuss their findings on Wednesday, after the Advertiser went to press.

HCC vice-convener Peter Brown said: “The headline figure is that 55 per cent of those surveyed did not approve of the overall proposal.

“A majority – 53 per cent – also felt that the facilities that were proposed for the leisure centre were not adequate for their needs.

“There was also a significant majority that objected to the designation of the area beside West Clyde Street as being ‘retail’, and against the proposed level of car parking.

“Finally, the most conclusive result was that 98 per cent want a cafe rather than just vending machines.”

The survey results were compiled during Argyll and Bute Council’s own 12-week ‘pre-application consultation’ on the leisure centre design.

The results have been used to create a list of seven recommendations HCC plans to put to project officials to address the public’s concerns.

These are:

– The leisure centre should be aligned north-south beside the pier, to avoid flooding.

– The designers should incorporate the high priority leisure and functional elements identified by the community to ensure that the building meets the needs of its users.

– There must be a café facility.

– The designers should be asked to look again at the question of spectator seating in the pool.

– The designers should consider all possible options to create a distinctive design statement that inspires the community.

– Car parking must be reviewed for the whole of the town centre and, if the analysis shows a need for more parking then the area marked for retail development should be rezoned for parking.

– The area currently designated for retail must, at least, be reduced in size and, preferably, other uses for this area should be explored, such as a skate park.

Mr Brown added: “We received 1,109 survey responses from a balanced distribution of age ranges in the Helensburgh and Lomond area, and people took the time to write 2,360 comments in the free-form answer boxes.

“The community council is very grateful to the community for the level of input that we’ve received.”

However, even before the results of the HCC survey were made public this week, the chair of the council’s Helensburgh and Lomond area committee warned that it would not be possible to accommodate everyone’s ‘wish list’ in any revised design for the centre.

Councillor Ellen Morton said: “We are tweaking the design where we can to accommodate what people have told us they want to see.

“However, we only have a certain amount of space on a defined site, and we have to have a realistic view of what can be delivered.

“We also have to take account of the potentially conflicting views of different interest groups – for example, some people would like to see chutes or flumes for families, but older swimmers might not want to have people bombing down on them from a slide.”

The area committee was due to consider the plans – revised in the light of the public’s comments, both to the community council and to Argyll and Bute officials – at a special meeting on May 30, but because of the number of comments, that meeting will now be held at 2pm on Friday, June 8.

Cllr Morton added: “Future dates in the project timeline are not affected by having the meeting on a different date – June 8 is the very latest date we could hold the meeting in order for there to be no knock-on effect further down the line.”