After an energetic campaign by ACORN Haringey, Tottenham Green swimming pool have agreed to slash prices and ramp up standards.

The Haringey branch voted in our Pools for People campaign at the end of May, after many of our members, especially parents, raised concerns about the cleanliness, management and pricing of the local Tottenham Green Pool. We planned out a campaign timeline and strategy with actions and clear targets.

First we created a petition with our demands, and shared this with local groups who we’d identified as potential allies in our strategy meeting. We gathered hundreds of signatures and comments in support mostly from people who live nearby, and created an email chain of supporters which we then used to mobilize.

Our first action was a march on the pool with local pool users to deliver over fifty letters of demands straight to the reception. Local parents and children gathered outside the pool to hear speeches and play with inflatables.

We got the action and our demands covered in the local and national media, as well as appearing on BBC Radio London to discuss our campaign. The manager of the pool who had previously asked us not to protest, met us at the door, received our letter of demands and agreed to meet with us to discuss the issues at the facility.

From that position of strength, we prepped a strong negotiation team and tactic and met with the pool management to negotiate major improvements and price reductions. In less than 2 months we pressured a huge national enterprise with millions in the bank to make serious changes in the interest of the community, not with money or political lobbying but simply organized strength in numbers.

Fusion Lifestyle, who manage the pool, have agreed:

• to cut prices by at least 25%;
• to pay for over 200 hours of extra cleaning every month, with two new positions being hired;
• to increase the number of family and wave sessions by at least 2, when kids can be brought in for less. In addition, they’ve agreed to improve the booking system. 

This a big win for the people of Haringey: quite simply, a lot more of us will be able to go swimming this summer, and to do so in a decent pool. It’s a big win for the branch. We’ve shown that the rocketing cost of living is not just a fact we need to accept; prices can be forced down when we band together. And it’s a big win for us all. Dozens of our members were involved in deciding what action to take and in carrying it out. 

We’ll be monitoring the pool closely to make sure Fusion keeps their promise to us, and then gearing up to win our next campaign in Haringey.