New call for pool safety talks
A tourism boss has called for urgent talks with local authorities on the stricter enforcement of swimming pool safety laws which it is feared could cost hoteliers hundreds of thousands of pounds or see pools closed.
The crackdown follows the pool deaths of five people in as many years in the South-west of England, and criticism by a coroner of hotel and holiday park pool safety.
Malcolm Bell, chief executive of South West Tourism, described the crackdown as "an overreaction that could drive tourists away." He added: "It seems local authorities are using an expensive sledgehammer to crack a minor problem."
About 20 of the 650 hotels or parks with pools in the South-west have already had some form of enforcement action taken against them by councils, and Bell said that some face closure.
But Terry Faull, principal inspector for Devon and Cornwall at the Health and Safety Executive, said that councils were simply responding to the number of serious incidents in the past few years.
