Maximilien Carlier 6:28 a.m., April 30, 2022

Will rising energy prices sink swimming pools?

In France, several municipalities have in any case been forced to close their basins.

This is particularly the case in the North, near Dunkirk, in Leffrinckoucke.

The city is no longer able to bear the energy cost.

In the basin of the Paul Haucolas swimming pool, there is no more water.

Definitive closure due to the increase in energy prices, as explained by Olivier Ryckebusch, the mayor of the town.

"A swimming pool in operation represents for Leffrinckoucke a budget of 700,000 euros every year", he indicates at the microphone of Europe 1. A high cost, which the rise in the price of energy has finished making inaccessible for the municipality, because it is simply necessary to heat the water to 28°C continuously, not to mention the heating. 

80,000 euros additional operating cost

"With this increase, we would be around between 780,000 and 800,000 euros, so 80,000 euros more. Which is huge."

An unbearable increase according to the city councilor for a city of 4,300 inhabitants.

It is therefore impossible to keep this basin and ignore the other municipal buildings.

"If we keep the swimming pool, we weigh down the city's budget. We are potentially put under guardianship in a short time. This would mean that the Leffrinckouckois would have to contribute with the increase in land, for example." 

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An understandable closure for the inhabitants

Without any other means, the swimming pool will therefore close its doors.

But in Leffrinckoucke, the residents, even if they are disappointed, understand this decision.

"It makes sense to close to avoid paying too much tax," slips a resident.

"It was still a nice little pool, friendly, family," still regrets another.

A heartbreak for many, and all the more so for the mayor, a lifeguard in activity.