Huge shortfall in visitors to The Wave, figures show

A £36.7m council-funded water park has attracted about a million fewer visitors a year than was predicted in the years before it opened, the BBC has learnt.

The Wave, in Coventry city centre, was built by the city council and opened in October 2019.

But the attraction is closed to the majority of people for most of the year, with general admission only available in school holidays, Friday afternoons and weekends.

Despite this, the council insisted the attraction delivered a financial return for the taxpayer, pointing to the Covid pandemic as one of the reasons for the site's failure to deliver numbers as expected.

The water park was part of a wider shake up of the city's sports and leisure offering, which saw the 1960s Coventry Sports and Leisure Centre closed and replaced.

Forecasts of 1.3 milllion annual visitors were repeatedly published in council reports between 2014 and 2019, compared to about 800,000 each year at the old sports and leisure centre.

Those reports were used to inform the public and persuade councillors to approve building The Wave and closing the old site, despite thousands petitioning against the move.

But the BBC has now learnt those predictions were wide of the mark.

The council retains ownership of the site, with about 2.4m visits recorded over The Wave's first five full years of opening – just over a third of the 6.5m forecast.

Requests under the Freedom of Information Act revealed the park's first full year of opening in 2020 was its most successful, recording 979,000 visitors.

However the site's worst figures were recorded the following year, with 211,000 visits.

A total of 302,000 visits came in 2022; 420,000 in 2023; and 455,000 in 2024.

The park is occasionally opened for some specialist sessions, such as parent and toddler sessions, but general admission is restricted to Friday evenings and weekends during term time.

Councillor Gary Ridley, the Conservative opposition leader on the council, described the difference between the predicted figures and those recorded as "a huge chasm".

"We were either sold something that was never going to happen or, there is another theory, that it's not attracting the numbers it should," he said.

He questioned the policy around opening times adding it was "difficult to see how we are going to get 1.3million people visiting this facility if it's only open at certain times".

Ridley also said there were "questions that need to be answered" around the pricing structure for The Wave and how affordable it was for people.

A visit for a family of four would cost £56 - or £49.50 with a discount for those who live in Coventry.

CV Life, the organisation which operates the site and sets the prices and opening times, declined to comment when approached by the BBC.

Labour councillor Kamran Caan, the council's cabinet member for sport, said he thought the pricing was "fair" and pointed to extra discounts for certain groups, such as students and those on benefits.

"CV Life is responsible for that, so they've benchmarked this," he added.

"But, if I continually get feedback saying 'look this is affecting us' or 'we can't afford it, it's not acceptable', then I definitely want to look into this further."

Asked about the reasons for visitor numbers falling short of expectations, he said: "You've got to remember Covid came in practically within a few months of this opening.

"That has had a big impact on figures and people who are taking part in these kind of destination facilities."

He also said the site was generating money and had allowed a new 50m pool to be built at the Alan Higgs Sports Centre in the city, replacing the loss of the Olympic-sized swimming pool at the former sports and leisure centre.

One organisation which its staff said had benefited from the development of The Wave is community café Coffee Tots.

The charity, which provides parenting support to families, looked set to close, after it had to leave its former home in the now-demolished City Arcade.

But in 2023, CV Life invited Coffee Tots to move into The Wave.

Ros Mortimer, from the charity, said their new location felt like a community hub and a busy thriving venue - and they have seen weekly visitor numbers rise from about 10 to 210.

"The Wave, CV Life, have actually been so supportive. That community feel has been incredible," she said.

"We feel really blessed and actually so fortunate that we were able to have this opportunity and that it's working and that we're all able to work alongside each other so nicely."

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