” Nope ! It’s not true ? Is this a joke? asks Sacha, 71, his pool bag in hand, at the entrance to the Conflans-Sainte-Honorine swimming pool (Yvelines). Having just returned from her holidays, she discovers the little leaf on the front door indicating that the aquatic complex is closed “due to the energy crisis”. Like around thirty other swimming pools managed by the operating company Vert Marine in France.
Like Sacha, used to coming “every day to the pool for nine years”, who shows us her swollen feet when she does not go to the pool for several days and who suffers from fibromyalgia, other visitors find themselves helpless in each trying to open the front door. Évelyne, 61, had even reserved her aquagym slot online and received confirmation. She is surprised not to “have been notified by email”. Other parents follow one another to come and register their children for swimming because registrations are already complete in some neighboring towns.
And Conflans is no exception. Other municipalities in Yvelines are affected by the closure of aquatic complexes, managed by Vert Marine. This is the case of Versailles, Mantes-la-Ville, Mantes-la-Jolie or even Saint-Cyr-l’École, whose sudden closures even caught elected officials off guard.
In its press release posted on the door and on the Internet, signed by its president Thierry Chaix, Vert marine explains that if the increase in energy costs were passed on to the price of the entrance ticket, it would be multiplied… by three . “Knowing that the new rates for September 2022 are already at €19.45 per month for a Conflan resident, I’ll let you do the math. It’s more than 58€. concludes Hugues, 50 years old.
Thus, with this reasoning, the price of the single entry for an adult who does not live in the municipality would cost €20.70 and for a resident, €17.85. “No one will pay that price, certifies Christelle, 48, who wants to sign up to do laps during her lunch break. We will wait for something new, maybe the state will do something…”
In the meantime, the employees of the complexes have been put on partial unemployment. And some elected officials asked to speak with the company Vert Marine. The French Swimming Federation published a press release on Tuesday, September 6 to demand an “immediate reopening” of closed swimming pools and asks “all actors to take their responsibilities to ensure the continuity of this public service”.