Open water swimming returns to lake after hiatus

Open water swimming sessions have been reintroduced to a west London country park after a two-year break in a bid to meet demand for the "increasingly popular" sport.

Sessions are available in the southside lake known as The Haven in Bedfont Lakes Country Park, Hounslow, on selected Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and will be overseen by trained staff, Hounslow Council said.

Supervised sessions were previously run at the lake until June 2024 and ended due to financial constraints.

Salman Shaheen, Hounslow Council's cabinet member for environment, transport and public realm, said the open water swimming site was a "fantastic opportunity" for residents.

In 2022, a man in his 20s drowned after getting into difficulties in a lake at the country park.

"The tragic death we saw in August 2022 was not during a supervised swimming session," said Shaheen.

The councillor said that after the man's death, the previous provider suspended swimming sessions for a time out of respect, and sessions ended in June 2024 "due primarily to financial viability".

"For safety reasons, the council has never allowed unsupervised open water swimming at Bedfont Lakes," he said.

"We only permit supervised open water swimming sessions delivered by providers with appropriate safety accreditation."

To promote safety and prevent swimming at off times, Hounslow Council said it had installed signage around the site, and park staff would regularly patrol the area.

The lakes opened in 1995, 22 years after landfill operations ended at the site.

The council said it had carried out "rigorous checks" to ensure that the water was safe to swim in.

New provider Howl Multisports will manage the supervised sessions, and trained staff will offer support on the water and at the shoreline. Staff will also carry out regular water-quality monitoring.

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