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Home > Council & democracy > Council meetings > ePetition - Open ladies shower access via Women only gym at Mile End gym

Petition details

Open ladies shower access via Women only gym at Mile End gym

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We the undersigned petition the council to We would like the council and the management of Better gym to take into consideration about opening the access to ladies shower and toilet facilities via the Women only gym at Mile End Gym. This has always been open. Recently after the pandemic opening, this access has been blocked off. This has caused a lot of inconvenience for us as women to access the toilets and shower facilities. We have been told to walk across the corridor to the other side of the centre and or go to all the way around the mix changing rooms. This is very inconsiderate. Some ladies have to wear their outer garments in their sweats and carry their bags backwards and forwards. There has never been an issues before. Initially I raised with the manager and was told they will open. Recently I have been told they will never open it as some women ‘sneak’ through the shower room to the gym!

This is very bad management. Mile End Gym management have decided to close the ladies access to shower and toilets via the women only gym because they believe ‘some women sneak into the gym’. This is the comment/feed given to me by duty managers.

This is a very petty argument or excuses. Sure let there must be some other way of managing these issues. Having restricted access has and is causing me going into the gym. It means I can’t access the toilets and shower facilities as and when I need to via the gym. Some women have health issues such as incontinence, mobility problems and others. Going all the way across the hall and around the mix changing rooms is a lot of disruption and inconvenience for a lot of women.

This Petition ran from 26/11/2021 to 21/02/2022 and has now finished.

103 people signed this Petition.

Council response


Thank you for your petition.

The health and wellbeing of our residents is one of our key priorities, as well as being inclusive and ensuring all residents have access to health facilities.

The Covid-19 pandemic brought its own challenges to how gym and healthcare facilities could be used. GLL were already experiencing customers at Mile End Park Leisure Centre booking the swimming pool and using the programmable gym as a short cut to the female only changing rooms. Some customers would then use both facilities but only pay the lower pricing for swimming. On average the staff at Mile End would challenge 5-10 customers per day for this practice. This equates to a potential loss of income of £294 per week, which was predicted to be £15k per year.

To address this issue, GLL closed the door from the programmable / women only gym to the female only changing rooms.

Since GLL implemented this change, usage in this area has increased by 5%, which is estimated to be due to the bookings more accurately reflecting usage of the area. This mitigation measure is considered to have a limited impact on customers. The centre is inclusive fitness initiative accredited with multiple changing facilities and Disability Discrimination Act compliant changing rooms and toilets in the vicinity, which are readily accessible to customers.

The Programmable gym / Female Gym Changing room is located approximately 100 metres away from the Women Only Gym. Travel time between the changing room and Gym is approximately 58 seconds. This is a minor detour and GLL report no significant impact on the customer base.

Alternative, there are available changing facilities in the Swimming Pool mixed changing room and Female Swimming Pool changing rooms for customers to used. Women Only provision hours of operation at Mile End have increased from 57 hours per week to 100 hours per week to help meet increased demand. There are around 25,550 bookings for the Programable / Women Only Gym for Mile End per annum.

GLL has received one complaint to date regarding this matter via GLL’s and the Council’s complaints processes but will continue to review its current measure if demand increases.


Judith St John
Director of Commissioning and Culture
Sports, Leisure & Culture

Disclaimer

Tower Hamlets Council accepts no liability for the petitions on these web pages. The views expressed in the petitions do not necessarily reflect those of the Council. If you have any queries about petitions or any comments or suggestions, please email Committee Services at committee.services@towerhamlets.gov.uk or call 020 7364 4878.

 

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