Tynwald will this month be asked to spend more than £200,000 of taxpayers’ cash to fix the flume slides at the National Sports Centre.

After more than two years, the slides and leisure pool, popular with families, are still closed because of continuing issues with the flumes.

Problems with the manufacture and installation of the new flumes has caused a lengthy delay to the project, which was meant to be completed last May.

When Tynwald meets for its November sitting, Education, Sport and Culture Minister Dr Alex Allinson will ask members to support a £227,085 increase in funding to allow for the work to be finished.

problems

This includes work to the flume staircase and zero-depth play area.

When the staircase for the flume arrived it was found to have been damaged in transit and needed to be repaired outside in marquees. When it was actually erected, the stair tread sections didn’t fit properly, creating unequal heights.

In June Dr Allinson told Tynwald that the DESC was close to agreement with the specialist sub-contractor and supplier on remedial works to the flumes, predominantly to the stairs, tower and platform.

He told the Examiner that in Tynwald next week he will outline the remedial work needed and the contribution to this from the contractors both on and off the island.

However, while the taxpayer will be forced to foot the bill for the NSC refurbishment, the prolonged closure of the pool and flumes led to a drop in income for the NSC during the financial year 2019-20.

The government’s latest unaudited accounts, also published on the Tynwald order paper, state: ’The closure of the NSC pool(s) during the year significantly impacted income, the overspends have been higher but for the settlement of a previous loss of income insurance claim.

The accounts reveal that the NSC closure resulted in a £413,000 under-receipting.

After questions from Jason Moorhouse MHK in August, Dr Allinson revealed that the total income from the pools in 2017/18, the last time all of the pools were open, was £472,696.

For the seven months between August 2019, when the main pool opened, and March 2020 when the NSC closed because of Covid-19, the income was £167,802.