Good morning. I’m very pleased to have this opportunity to say a little about two exciting new developments in the city: the Brackenside Open-Air Swimming Pool and the children’s Adventure Playground in Central Park. As many of you may know, the idea for these initiatives came from you, the public, in the extensive consultation exercise which the City Council conducted last year. And they have been realised using money from the SWRDC – the South West Regional Development Commission.

First of all, Brackenside Pool. As many of the older members of the audience will remember, there used to be a wonderful open-air pool on the sea front 30 years ago but it had to close when it was judged to be unsafe. For the design of this new heated pool, we were very happy to secure the talents of internationally renowned architect Ellen Wendon, who has managed to combine a charming 1930s design, which fits is so well with many of the other buildings in the area, with up-to-the-minute features such as a recycling system – the only one of its kind in the world – which enables seawater to be used in the pool.

Now, there has been quite a bit of discussion in the local press about whether there would be enough room for the number of visitors we’re hoping to attract, but the design is deceptive and there have been rigorous checks about capacity. Also, just in case you were wondering, we’re on schedule for a June 15th opening date and well within budget: a testimony to the excellent work of local contractors Hickman’s.

We hope that as many people as possible will be there on June 15th. We have engaged award-winning actress Coral White to declare the pool open and there’ll be drinks and snacks available at the pool side. There’ll also be a competition for the public to decide on the sculpture we plan to have at the entrance: you will decide which famous historical figure from the city we should have.