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Bristol Harbour swimming pilot to launch in spring

BBC A swimming protest in Bristol's Cumberland BasinBBC
Bristol City Council said the harbour was a working area

The council has announced it will lift a ban on swimming in Bristol Harbour for a five week trial.

From April swimmers will be able to pay to take a dip every weekend after calls to overturn the unpopular ban on swimming in the harbour and River Avon.

The pilot involves lifeguards, safety boats and water quality sampling.

But the £7 cost of the hour-long session has been criticised by some swimmers for being more expensive than many indoor swimming pools in the area.

The council said the fee for harbour swimming was necessary to pay for water safety provisions.

Previously the council said it could not allow swimming in the harbour on health and safety grounds because the harbour was a working area and swimming was against local bye-laws.

Writing on his blog, Mayor Marvin Rees stated: "To make sure we can offer an area that is safe to swim there must be measures in place to ensure the health and safety of all harbour users.

"This means having an area of our harbour cordoned-off to create a course specifically for swimming which can be safely accessed."

Johnny Palmer Swimmers entering waterJohnny Palmer
Campaigners say the river swimming ban is deterring action to clean up the River Avon

For the duration of the pilot a 200-metre course will be cordoned off by Baltic Wharf, with an access ramp in front of the Cottage Inn.

Up to 80 people will be allowed to swim in each session which can be booked in advance online.

The pilot will run on Saturdays and Sundays from 08:00 to 10:00 from 29 April until 28 May.

Becca Blease, from the wild swimming Conham Bathing Group, tweeted: "Now I see where our river pollution campaign went wrong when we asked the council to support an application for bathing water status, and were rejected.

"We clearly didn't present it as a business opportunity."

The Conham Bathing Group wants to apply for bathing water status at Conham River Park, but is prevented from doing so by a byelaw that bans swimming there.

The river park is a popular spot for swimming in the summer but can become very polluted when Wessex Water releases raw sewage into the river.

The group said the swimming ban was the latest obstacle in getting the Environment Agency to crack down on sewage discharge.

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