The topic of women-only swimming sessions was again raised at full council last week.
Cllr Shahid Younis questioned why the hours of 8am until 9am, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during term time only, were chosen by Wokingham Borough Council as the time to offer women-only swimming sessions at Forest School?
Cllr Ian Shenton, executive member for environment, sport and leisure, said: “I’m sure you will appreciate the school must consider its own curriculum and safeguarding procedures when offering women-only swimming.
“Furthermore, this school provides a swimming facility for nine local primary schools, as well as local swim schools.
“I understand it’s not financially viable to maintain and manage this pool outside of term time, and it’s therefore not a council decision as to the availability of the pool.
“We have, however, managed to get an agreement with the school to provide women-only swimming at the times you reference in your question.
“We are also in discussions to enhance the offering, but this is dependent on availability and having a community group that can be found to utilise sessions in line with the school policies.
Cllr Younis replied, saying: “It doesn’t take much ingenuity to conclude that the response from women will be very minimal because that’s the busiest time, when they do the school run.”
