SIR – I agree with Philip Webster and Vanessa Gregory about Westminster Lodge – size does matter. The large swimming pool in St Albans is a testament to the civic pride of the 1960s and it is still a pleasure to swim in a pool that is larger than most of

SIR - I agree with Philip Webster and Vanessa Gregory about Westminster Lodge - size does matter.

The large swimming pool in St Albans is a testament to the civic pride of the 1960s and it is still a pleasure to swim in a pool that is larger than most of the private ones around here.

The 25m eight-lane pool that is proposed will be for the Hatfield-St Albans population of 114 thousand. Harpenden is six lanes but for a population of 15,000.

Swimming is one of the few sports that young, old, men and women enjoy equally - in Biggleswade (population 16,000 , 25m, six lanes) it is packed full of families and young people and it has the name Saxon Pool - not a leisure centre.

At least in Bedfordshire they know exactly what people want and provide it in style.

Westminster Lodge does need updating but do we really need to provide a "spa for visitors" instead of a first-class large pool that different groups can use simultaneously? On the Wednesday nights I swim whilst others do water aerobics and in the changing area a divers club are already assembling their equipment. Will all this be able to happen in the small pokey areas under the proposed new scheme? I think not.

My friend who I go swimming with did not fill in the consultation survey because there was no option to say that both of the proposed schemes was rubbish.

How many others also feel this about the proposals from this council? Over 113,000! Each week we leave the pool, refreshed and relaxed but gloomy at the thought of what our swims will be like in 2012.

ELEANOR CLARK

Manor Road, Wheathampstead