Sally Wainman

Swimclub thread on Broomhill Pool

2011-02-11T09:29:00.000-08:00

Back in December 2005 I started a thread on the Swimclub website for Broomhill Pool
http://www.swimclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4450&page=20

It's had over 25,000 views now and 20 pages have accumulated as the years went by! Nobody in the campaign group imagined that we would still be plodding on now, with a decade of continuous campaigning coming up in 2012.

Thankfully things seem to be looking up: the Broomhill Pool site was re-advertised on commercial leisure sites just before Christmas 2010 with the offer of a possible contribution of up to £1million from IBC (Ipswich Borough Council). The council have stipulated that the pool must be retained as part of any development of the site.

It's been a hard slog but hopefully future generations (see photo) will be able to enjoy the lido once more.

The million pound pledge for Broomhill Pool will be renewed.

2010-10-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

From the Broomhill Pool website:

CASH OFFER WOULD BOOST BROOMHILL BID

Oct 14, 2010

CASH OFFER WOULD BOOST BROOMHILL BID

Ipswich Borough Council is set to reinstate a £1 million lifeline to breathe new life into the bid to resurrect the disused lido.

Councillor Andrew Cann, Culture & Sport portfolio-holder, is to ask Executive to provide the money to the successful private bidder aiming to re-open the pool as a swimming and leisure complex.

Discussions will take place with potential bidders over the next few months, with the aim of agreeing a partner in the new year.

“This is good news for everyone,” said Councillor Cann. “We know any bidder will have to seek Heritage Lottery funding; this grant would give them a better chance of securing that. At least we have a fighting chance of securing a future for the pool.”

Councillor Cann accepted that there would be a delay. “But it will be worth it. My colleagues and I see this as a positive step forward - one that will be supported by the Trust and many local people.”

As to the future funding of the pool, he stressed: “There is no question that the Council will pay for the running of Broomhill if it does re-open. “We are making very clear that any future operator will have to make it work. The £1 million would be a major sign of our continuing support to the campaign but we would not agree to underwrite the project or pick up any debts incurred if things don’t succeed.”
The Broomhill Pool Trust has warmly welcomed IBC’s decision. Trust Spokesman Mark Ling said "The Trust has always reasoned that it is better for local taxpayers to invest £1m supporting an operator deliver a multimillion £ asset than it would to spend a similar amout to mothball or demolish the pool. We hope that an operator will come back to the table and that all parties will work together expediently to reach a deal. It’s a bit like being in the 6th round of the FA Cup, we have a good chance of success, but there is still a long way to go".

Is Ipswich going to opt for an Olympic cover-up?

2010-09-20T23:09:00.000-07:00

Ipswich Borough Council are being pressed to make a clear decision on the future of Broomhill Pool rather than opting silently for continued mothballing of the lido site.

Last autumn they advertised for Expressions of Interest in the site and have been successful! Fusion Lifestyle have put in a bid to restore the pool and all that is needed is for IBC to say "yes" and to keep their promise to contribute one million pounds towards this. Fusion will do the rest.

Campaign for Broomhill Pool enters its ninth year

2010-09-08T06:39:00.000-07:00

The campaign to try and save Broomhill Pool in Ipswich moves into its ninth year this September, with no signs that Ipswich Borough Council are going to come to a swift decision on the future of the lido. A year ago they advertised for Expressions of Interest in the pool site and a top class operator did come forward and put in a bid. However, the Council appear unwilling to move on to the assessment and conclusion stage of this process and therefore the lido remains simply "mothballed".

The Heritage Open Days are coming up this weekend and provide a chance for supporters to view the pool site and get the latest updates on this long-fought campaign.

It's just a tragedy that the Council won't run the pool themselves or allow anyone else to, at the moment.

What was the point of advertising for Expressions of Interest if they were not going to progress to the next stage?

Newcastle Lib Dems decimate public access to the City Pool

2010-09-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

Log onto the leisure section of Newcastle City Council and the City Pool is billed as a premier city centre facility:
http://www.newcastleleisure.co.uk/citypool

However, over the last year or so, the council has been relentlessly attacking the integrity of these beautiful Baths by planning to close the learner pool and board it over for a performance space for their My Place project. There must be other possible sites in the city of Newcastle for the My Place scheme, but councillors have insisted on a) using a derelict site next to the pool and b)saying that the site isn't large enough! Their "solution" is to destroy the pool.

The Council's main answer to protests has been that Northumbria University will be opening a new pool and that groups like the City of Newcastle Amateur Swimming Club will be able to use this facility, but now a fresh row has ensued because the Club will not only be using this new facility (which opens on September 6th) but are set to monopolize the main pool five nights a week. From September 6th the main pool in the City Pool complex will close at 4.30pm so that the Club can have sole access Monday-Friday.

The Council's reply at the moment is that ordinary swimmers can use the learner pool, but this is the one they want to destroy for the My Place project!! If the learner pool is closed, then the City Pool will only be offering public swimming up to 4.30pm each day (Monday - Friday) which is extremely restrictive.

Are the Council trying to close the whole facility? It certainly seems so: by limiting public access they will be able to show there is less "demand" and that it is "uneconomic" to continue or some such nonsense.
As usual, the so-called consultation over the learner pool took place only after the My Place decision had already been taken and there has certainly been no public consultation over the greatly reduced availability of the main pool. That's democracy for you.

Hurrah for Minnie Driver - as she speaks up for Brynaman Lido

2010-08-20T02:12:00.000-07:00

Hurrah for Minnie Driver, the star of "Hunky Dory", as she speaks up for Brynaman Lido.

See latest news in the Western Mail (Wales Online)

http://www.walesonline.co.uk

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballnation/football-news/2010/08/20/hollywood-star-calls-for-wales-only-lido-to-be-opened-91466-27101965/

In the above article the Council are still claiming that repairs would cost £100,000 pounds which is five times the figure they were giving when the news was first broken towards the end of July. It would seem that the cost of the repairs is in direct proportion to the Council's embarassment over this whole situation: the greater the adverse publicity, the higher the cost of re-opening the Lido.

Will Broomhill Pool get MUGA - ered?

2010-08-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

I have recently submitted a letter to both the local newspapers, but, because it is rather long, it is likely to be edited. Below is the full text of the letter:

Dear Sir,

On July 1st this year a national newspaper openly named one of the bidders for Broomhill Pool as Fusion Lifestyle. As a consequence of this declaration I tabled Questions at the "full council" meeting of Ipswich Borough Council, held later in July, to ask what timetable the Council had set for the consideration of bids for the pool site.

It is now nearly a year since the council first advertised for Expressions of Interest and the original deadline for interested bidders was meant to be in February 2010; since that time the council has moved the goalposts quite considerably so that when the article headed "Rival bidders want to buy historic lido" was published, Councillor Andrew Cann is quoted there as saying "the bids were in by June".

Certainly no-one can accuse the council of rushing to find a solution for the Broomhill Lido; "mothballing" this Grade II Listed building was originally meant to be an option for one year only, but eight full years have now passed and in the autumn of this year the steadfast campaign to save the pool will move into its ninth year. No-one would guess that the pool was Suffolk's top icon as voted for on Choose Suffolk's new website and that its recent history has been dogged not just by endless delays, but also an attempt to effectively sabotage all restoration by voting through measures to fill the pool in with sand and granular infill in the run up to Christmas 2008.

The people of Ipswich need to be aware that it is extremely unlikely that there truly are "rival bids" for the pool site, The bid submitted by Fusion Lifestyle will be for the full restoration of the site, because Fusion already manage 52 sports, leisure and community centres, including 41 swimming pools, two of which are Grade II Listed. For example at Brockwell Park Lido in Herne Hill, the changing rooms have been imaginatively converted into fitness and dance studios, spa facilities, meeting rooms for youth groups etc. and these all-the-year round activities successfuly subsidise the lido itself.

The so-called 'rival' bid for the site is unlikely to include the restoration of the pool, because Ipswich Borough Council very cleverly avoided this requirement when they advertised the pool site last autumn; bids were simply invited for recreational/leisure purposes and there is therefore a danger that Broomhill Pool could be "mugged" ie turned into a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA).

I hope that I am wrong, but nothing in the council's scandalous mothballing neglect of this particular asset gives me much optimism that they are treating the Fusion bid with the respect it deserves.

This is our last chance to get an Olympic-sized swimming pool for the foreseeable future; IBC have already tried and failed to get a 50 metre indoor pool and in the current recession any hopes of this happening have to be shelved; but a 50 metre open air pool is very much within our grasp at a price that is 66% less than the one quoted in 2002. Back then, IBC said they needed £3 million to save Broomhill, now they need just £1million, because Fusion will take on responsibility for all other fundraising.

One million pounds may still sound a lot, but there are pockets of money that IBC can call on eg at the last Executive meeting on 3rd August, the papers show that the balance of the unallocated budget for the Community Improvements Programme for the year 2010/11 was £266,210 and the balance of the unallocated budget for the Area Forums amounted to a further sum of nearly £130,000. This is a total of nearly £400,000 for a start, so it can hardly be beyond the council's reach to organise a little more. After all, if the restoration of Broomhill would not be a community improvement then what would?

I hope the Council take this chance to say "yes" to Fusion and restore to the town the pool for which we have campaigned for so long,

Yours sincerely

New window

Print all

Swimclub thread on Brynaman Pool attracts over 1000 views

2010-08-12T00:44:00.000-07:00

The Swimclub thread on the Brynaman Pool has now attracted over 1000 views:

http://www.swimclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=14169

The latest post is about the council's Community Regeneration Team, which apparently has invested nine million pounds in Carmarthenshire's communities to "empower them", strengthen their identities, protect leisure and cultural facilities etc.

If the Community Regeneration Team has access to this kind of funding then it should definitiely be supporting the people of Brynaman in their fight to save their lido, because this pool is most certainly a part of the community's 'identity'.

This is the nonsense of modern funding: how can Carmarthenshire County Council claim that they can't afford to spend an extra £12,000 repairing the pool whilst the Regeneration team boasts of a nine million pound investment?

Brynaman Pool needs more than vague reassurances

2010-08-10T23:28:00.000-07:00

The Deputy Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council has been pledging that the Council will do all they can to re-open Brynaman Pool next year. Unfortunately, these kind of vague reassurances have no value whatsoever without a detailed survey, a proper budget and an exact timetable for the repair work.

Estimates for repairing the pool are currently varying between £20,000 and £100,000 depending on what newspaper you read! For example in the South Wales Evening Post on August 4th 2010 the Council were claiming the upper figure was needed and also claiming (erroneously) that the film company had offered £20,000.

I have taken the trouble to double check with Chris Hill, the Location Manager for "Hunky Dory", and at no time did the film company offer the Council £20,000; and yet the council made this statement in the South Wales Evening Post last week: "When the (film) producers heard the pool would have cost £100,000 to repair and not the initial £20,000 they had offered, they backed off."

Furthermore the Council remain "at a loss" to explain why they didn't alert the Brynaman Swimming Pool Association sooner about the need for repairs. This phrase occurs in the article written in the South Wales Guardian. I believe I can help them out here: the reason why the Council cannot adequately explain the delay is because they planned it that way! They knew they were not going to open the pool and they also knew they couldn't afford to give BSPA too much notice, because otherwise there would have been time for a concerted protest: therefore presenting the people of Brynaman with a fait accompli was their chosen method of closure.

I doubt if they had prepared themselves for the publicity that has followed this unpleasant piece of council deviousness.

http://www.southwalesguardian.co.uk/news/8311034.Council_boss_offers_Brynaman_pool_campaigners_some_hope/

Bereft in Brynaman - Article for the Outdoor Swimming Society

2010-08-04T23:27:00.000-07:00

"BEREFT IN BRYNAMAN"

An article about the closure of the Brynaman Pool this summer (2010).

I wrote this article on 29th/30th July 2010 and sent it in to the Outdoor Swimming Society.
It is now available on the news section of the OSS

http://www.outdoorswimmingsociety.com/index.php?p=news#234

Photo is courtesey of the Brynaman Swimming Pool Association

Did Carmarthenshire County Council turn down the producer of "Billy Elliot"?

2010-07-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

When the news about the Brynaman Pool closure broke last week, one of the additional items of news was that a film company had been planning to use the lido as one of its locations this summer.

As far as I can gather the film is called Hunky Dory and the producer of this is Jon Finn, the producer of the film "Billy Elliot"!

Did Carmarthenshire County Council really turn this opportunity down and if so did they realize what it was they were saying "no" to?

If I have got any of my facts wrong here, I would like to know; but I have been researching all afternoon and Hunky Dory is certainly being shot this summer in Wales, with one of the stars being Minnie Driver.

Have just contacted one of the production team of Hunky Dory and it's true. The Council have said 'no' to the lido being used as a film location.

It would therefore appear that in their eagerness to close Brynaman Pool, Carmarthenshire County Council have bypassed the opportunity to showcase local Welsh talent - actors, musicians, singers etc - and to put Brynaman on the map in a highly positive way. This would have been a boost for tourism in the area as people love to visit places that have been used as film locations. Not so hunky-dory. My guess is that the council made up their minds to close the pool months ago and then were not flexible enough to change their plans when the film opportunity came along

Brynaman Pool - no funds for repairs claims Carmarthenshire County Council

2010-07-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

Traditionally the Brynaman Pool in Wales opens in time for the summer holidays; this is the last lido in Wales and Carmarthenshire County Council claim to be proud of it.

However, actions always speak louder than words and just as the pool was due to open, the council informed devastated residents that £20,000 worth of repairs was needed which the council could not afford. Their normal maintenance budget is about £2,000 - £3,000 and the harsh winter weather, they claim, had damaged the pool more than they'd realized.

I find it hard to believe their pleas of poverty: this is the council which is willing to spend far in excess of £100,000 per annum just to distribute their self-congratulatory "Community News". six times a year. Their expenditure on consultants is also likely to be excessive because in reply to a Freedom of Information request they claimed the information would take too long to collate!
They were also mentioned by Watchdog for wasteful practices in regard to their use of chauffering services: the hire of a lease car, fuel etc came to more than £12,000 and this did not include the cost of wages for the drivers.

The picture becomes even less believable when you consider that the local Brynaman Swimming Pool group offered a £5,000 contribution towards the £20,000, but the county council (with a budget in excess of £500 million) still claim they cannot contribute the remaining £15,000.

At the moment Carmarthenshire County Council are saying that the pool is not closed: it simply won't open this year! They are promising that it will be open again in 2011, but I think the pool is greatly at risk of never opening again. Leisure Consultants Torkildsen Barclay advised the Council back in 2000/2001 to step back from funding the pool: outdoor pools are seen by such bodies as "poor value for money" because they are "weather dependent" and only open six weeks a year."

The fact that local children look forward greatly to these particular six weeks cuts no ice with those being chauffered around at considerable expense to council taxpayers.

I hope that those trying to save the pool will not too readily believe the council's assurances for 2011.

The Straight Choice - Election Leaflet website

2010-05-01T02:25:00.000-07:00

A website called The Straight Choice is encouraging people to photograph any leaflets they receive and upload them onto the website; you can search by constituency or postcode for your own particular area. Ipswich has quite a number of leaflets uploaded but many constituencies have none at all.

http://www.thestraightchoice.org

Ipswich Community Radio (ICR) interviews General Election candidates

2010-04-30T01:19:00.000-07:00

Ipswich Community Radio (ICR) has been offering all the General Election candidates a chance of an interview on their Breakfast shows and a chance to take part in a programme called "Charlie's Hat" (the Ipswich edition of Desert Island Discs!)

The Listen Again feature will have the Charlie's Hat programme for all the participating candidates until May 6th

http://www.icrfm.co.uk/

UCS Election Special for Ipswich Parliamentary Candidates

2010-04-28T14:36:00.000-07:00

On May 4th the UCS Students Union are hosting an election hustings for students and staff at UCS:

http://www.ucsunion.com/node/390

All candidates were invited as far as I know and confirmed attendees so far include:

Mark Dyson (Liberal Democrat)
Chris Streatfield (UKIP)
Chris Mole (Labour)
Ben Gummer (Conservative)
Tim Glover (Green Party)
Sally Wainman (Independent)

Venue:- Waterfront Building Ipswich

Time: 1pm

River and Lake Swimming Association (RALSA) support Broomhill campaign

2010-04-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

RALSA - RIVER AND LAKE SWIMMING ASSOCIATION -
BACKS THE BROOMHILL POOL CAMPAIGN

RALSA are showing their support for the Broomhill Pool campaign by headlining my parliamentary candidature at the top of the Home Page. Many thanks to Yacov Lev for flagging this up:

http://www.river-swimming.co.uk/

Outdoor Swimming Society show their support for Broomhill Pool

2010-04-24T05:11:00.000-07:00

The Outdoor Swimming Society have posted an article about Broomhill Pool on their website, in support of the campaign generally and in favour of my candidature in the forthcoming General Election:

See their news section:

http://www.outdoorswimmingsociety.com/index.php?p=news

Jonathan Knott was the interviewer.

GENERAL LEAFLET - BROOMHILL POOL (4th page)

2010-04-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

WHY SAVE BROOMHILL POOL?

5. This is a unique and historic pool - part of Suffolk's heritage - and it would definitely be a tourist attraction. It might also help Ipswich gain its longed-for City status.

6. Broomhill Pool would be of interest to a wide variety of sporting disciplines including triathletes, sub-aqua divers, water polo players and canoeists. There is no 50 metre pool in Suffolk at the moment and this pool would provide endurance and stamina training for anyone interested in length training.

7. Major housing expansion is planned in East Anglia and we need the supporting infrastructure to go with these developments: the provision of sport and leisure centres should be part of this. It is an utter waste to leave Broomhill Pool derelict and neglected.

VOTE ON MAY 6TH
FOR FULL RESTORATION OF THE LIDO

VOTE FOR
SALLY WAINMAN
INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE FOR IPSWICH

GENERAL LEAFLET - BROOMHILL POOL (4th page)

2010-04-18T12:46:00.000-07:00

WHY SAVE BROOMHILL POOL?

1. When Broomhill Pool opened in April 1938, the Mayor of Ipswich spoke about the joy of swimming; it is this joy that should be returned to the people of Ipswich, because there is nothing like the feeling of swimming in the open air, surrounded by the trees there and accelerating up the 55 yard length of that lido.

2. Concerns about obesity, heart failure, diabetes etc: There is national concern about obesity at the moment and organisations like Diabetes UK are publishing staggering figures about the overall cost of obesity and inactive lifestyles. Economically it makes far more sense to invest in prevention ie. proper funding for sports and leisure facilities. Therefore an initial (and one-off) outlay of one or two million pounds on Broomhill would be an absolute bargain in return for the expertise and dedication of a top quality pool operator.

3. Lidos have enjoyed a renaissance in recent years and successful restorations/refurbishments have taken place at a number of locations including the London Fields Lido in Hackney, the Brockwell Park Lido in Herne Hill and the Uxbridge Lido (owned by Hillingdon Council).

4. A restored Broomhill Pool would be an added attraction for university students who are only a ten minute cycle ride away from the lido!

GENERAL ELECTION - BROOMHILL POOL (3rd page continued)

2010-04-18T12:33:00.000-07:00

THE CURRENT SITUATION

In the autumn of 2009 the Council advertised the Broomhill Pool site on commercial leisure websites asking for "Expressions of Interest". At least three or four organisations expressed such an interest and February 10th 2010 was given originally as the date by which bids had to submitted.

One of the potential operators is a large, well run, not-for-profit leisure trust with substantial experience in open air pools; once the pool was leased to such an operator the pool would be off the council's hands and council taxpayers would not be picking up future bills for the pool's restoration.

The Catch 22 in the situation is that the Council is unwilling to keep its former pledge of the million pounds and is expecting the operator to bear the full brunt of the Council's decision to let the pool deteriorate over the last eight years. To me this seems wholly unrealistic and very unreasonable. Ipswich is now in a position to obtain a restored 50 metre swimming pool for a minimal outlay of one or two million pounds, with all future risks borne by the operator, so this is just too good an opportunity to pass by.

VOTE ON MAY 6TH 2010
VOTE FOR FULL RESTORATION OF THE BROOMHILL LIDO

GENERAL LEAFLET - BROOMHILL POOL (3rd page)

2010-04-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

BROOMHILL POOL - A POOL FOR THE PEOPLE

I am standing in the General Election again because this Grade II Listed, Olympic-sized pool is a really valuable community resource and asset; it is beautiful architecturally and was designed to be a pool for all the people of Ipswich and not just for those in the higher income brackets. The Council claim there is already sufficient pool provision by using something called the Facility Planning Model created by Sport England; but this Model merges private, public and school swimming pools. For instance it allows the Council to count the indoor pool at the David Lloyd Health Club as part of the town's provision, even though the Council know full well that a monthly subscription there is beyond the reach of many residents.

The continued closure of the lido is not about lack of money or so-called "financial pressures". When the Council want to fund their own preferred heritage projects then these "pressures" don't seem to apply: eg they are pursuing a FOUR MILLION POUND project on Holywells Park, voting through £2 million in March 2008 alone to demonstrate "commitment" to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

By contrast, the Council's obvious lack of commitment to the lido's HLF bid (submitted by the Broomhill Pool Trust) drew stinging comments from Richard Powell, Regional Chairman of the HLF when he spoke on BBC Look East on 12th September: Ipswich Borough Council had promised a million pounds towards the lido's restoration, he said, but when the HLF looked at the bid that sum was not secured.

The HLF's fears were proved to be fully justified when Ipswich Borough Council neatly removed the million pound offer in December 2009 just at the point where it would have been most useful!

GENERAL ELECTION LEAFLET - BROOMHILL POOL (Page 2 continued)

2010-04-18T05:41:00.000-07:00

ABOUT THE POOL:
Broomhill Pool is situated on the north-west side of Ipswich, with the entrance looking out onto Sherrington Road. It opened in 1938 and closed in the autumn of 2002 and was therefore an intrinsic part of Ipswich for well over 60 years. There was no warning or consultation about its impending closure and residents were horrified when the Evening Star made headlines in February 2003 asking if Broomhill was now "Doomhill".

The Broomhill Lido is an Art Deco, Grade II Listed building, part of Suffolk's heritage and a potential tourist attraction. The main pool is 55 yards long and 20 yards wide and therefore it can be described as roughly "Olympic" in size.

(Photo by Paul Beaumont, showing Broomhill Pool at its finest, before it was closed in 2002)

It was featured as one of the case studies in Janet Smith's book "Liquid Assets - the lidos and open air pools of Britain" (English Heritage 2005)

Ipswich Borough Council are the owners of this heritage pool and it has been their choice, and their choice alone, to leave it disgracefully neglected and needlessly derelict for the last eight years.

VOTE ON MAY 6TH TO SEE FULL RESTORATION OF THE LIDO

VOTE FOR SALLY WAINMAN
INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE

GENERAL ELECTION LEAFLET - BROOMHILL POOL (2nd page)

2010-04-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

ABOUT THE CANDIDATE

Our family moved from London to Ipswich in June 1989 and I worked as a staff nurse in the Recovery Department of Ipswich Hospital until July 2009.

"Retirement" has proved extremely busy, with part-time agency nursing work, ministry duties at All Saints Kesgrave and several grandchildren now to keep in touch with.

My route into politics has been very much through a life-long love of swimming: I started campaigning for Broomhill Pool right back in 2002, never dreaming that the battle would still be going on eight years later! This will be my seventh election in total and the second General Election I have stood in.

I also research swimming pool closures and campaigns all over Britain and have frequently witnessed the fact that both central and local government are far more likely to fund "spin" rather than "swim" ie.plenty of fine words about the importance of sport and exercise, but a great reluctance to fund sports and leisure centres properly. The Government's much vaunted "Free Swimming" initiative, for example, has done absolutely nothing to slow down the rate of pool closures and cutbacks nationally.

General Election Leaflet - Broomhill Pool (front page)

2010-04-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

GENERAL ELECTION

IPSWICH

THURSDAY MAY 6TH 2010

PLEASE VOTE TO KEEP THE POOL AS A POOL

DON'T LET THE POOL SITE BE SOLD OR LEASED OFF

JUST AS A GENERAL RECREATIONAL FACILITY

VOTE FOR FULL RESTORATION OF THE LIDO

SALLY WAINMAN

INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE IPSWICH

Broomhill Pool and the General Election - update March 2010

2010-03-16T00:10:00.000-07:00

Back in the autumn of 2009, Ipswich Borough Council advertised for "Expressions of Interest" in the Broomhill Pool site, with a closing date of October 23rd 2009. The Council referred in the advertisement to recreational and leisure use for the site but, very cleverly, did not stipulate that the pool must be kept as a pool.

In December 2009 the Executive met and formally resolved to pursue Option 2 of a range of options ie pursuing this option of an outside operator for the Broomhill Pool site; they also removed the offer of the million pounds towards restoration - it was due to expire on 31st December 2009 and the Executive chose not to extend the offer past this date.

Despite the loss of the million pounds, the press coverage immediately after this was positively euphoric "Hopes high for future of pool" ran the headline in the Star Advertiser (December 24th 2009) "Hopes rose last week that Broomhill Pool could be open for business again in the summer of 2013. Members of the borough's Executive approved a proposal to hand over the lido to a private sector operator who would restore the pool and bring it back into use."

(There was zero mention in the glowing publicity that the Council might consider bids from operators who did not want to re-open the pool as a pool.)

However, the Council stated publicly in December 2009 that three operators wanted to pursue the matter and February 10th 2010 was given as the deadline for proposals to be submitted. I tabled Questions at the Ipswich Borough Council meeting in February about the timetable for considering the operators' bids and was told that a fourth operator had now emerged and that the deadline had been extended to the end of March. Therefore it is obviously going to be April, at the very earliest, before the bids are evaluated and this will effectively rule out a declaration before the General Election. This is not a good sign - if there was genuinely good news for Broomhill Pool then the Council Executive would undoubtedly be sharing that with the electors.

As a further twist to the tale the Cultural and Leisure Needs Analysis conducted by PMP Genesis and made public in February 2010 stated that the Council had not identified any private sector interest in managing the Pool:

Paragraph 3:56 Broomhill Pool, a 50 metre outdoor pool with Grade II status, closed in 2002 and has remained closed since. The Broomhill Trust is a significant lobbying group which aims to restore Broomhill Pool for full public use. A feasibility study commissioned by the Trust and completed in 2006 suggested that that the Pool can be restored, with 9 months work, at a cost of £3.9 million. The future of the Pool therefore relies on gaining further lottery and government funds and securing a suitable pool operator.

Paragraph 3:57 It is understood that Council discussions with private sector operators have not identified private sector interest in managing the Pool. This is in keeping with pmpgenesis' experience of the market where private sector operators are not typically interested in outdoor swimming pools since their financial sustainability is too contingent on the weather.

It needs to be particularly noted that the above statements are being made in a survey designed to carry the council through to 2015 and this will be treated as the official version of what those needs are and what the resources are. PMPGenesis have painted a negative view of the lido and there is no recognition at all that a number of lidos have been successfully saved and restored elsewhere in the country.

2010 General Election: Broomhill Pool

2010-01-01T03:21:00.000-08:00

As the 2010 General Election comes sharply into focus, the future of the Grade II Listed Olympic-sized lido in Ipswich remains an ongoing issue for both the constituency of Ipswich and the Central Suffolk & North Ipswich one. Independent Candidates are likely to stand in both areas with Broomhill Pool as one of the main points of their electoral campaign.

The Conservative/Lib Dem Executive at Ipswich Borough Council were keen enough to criticise the Labour councillors for closing the pool in 2002, but after five years in power themselves have actually delivered nothing except a great deal of hot air and much dithering. Their much vaunted offer of a million pounds towards restoration (made just before the 2005 General Election) has been taken off the table, precisely at the moment when it might have been needed.

Councillor Judy Terry likes to point to the fact that they financed the Feasibility Study by voting through over £58,000 in August 2005, but this money was actually the £64,000 voted through by Labour for a Heritage Lottery bid in 2004 - the new Conservative administration simply allowed this money to be suspended in aspic whilst they did absolutely no work at all on a possible bid for Heritage Lottery funding. The Broomhill Pool Trust was therefore offered over £5,000 less for the Feasibility Study than the Council had awarded themselves.

Under the Conservative/Lib Dem alliance this heritage pool has simply suffered ongoing neglect and repeated vandalism whilst all the positive work has been done by the Broomhill Pool Trust and other campaigners.

Broomhill Pool set to lose its million pounds?

2009-12-12T02:00:00.000-08:00

On 15th December 2009 the Executive of Ipswich Borough Council will meet and one of the items on the agenda is Broomhill Pool. The Council will consider an all options report on this 1938 lido, but one of the main recommendations is that the offer of a million pounds towards its restoration should be withdrawn. One of their justifications is that there is already sufficient 'water space' provision in Ipswich.

A survey by Torkildsen Barclay in 2006 established that there was in fact under provision of public swimming pools in Ipswich. This situation was going to worsen as Ipswich grew and expanded. The council were happy to accept that report at the time, because they were wanting to try and acquire a new indoor 50 metre pool for the town. The Torkildsen Barclay report considered only the public pools in Ipswich: Fore St Baths and Crown Pools (Broomhill Pool was excluded from any consideration because it is an open air pool and therefore "weather dependent" as consultants like to say.)

This autumn a new cultural and leisure survey was conducted by PMP Genesis, but it took place very quietly; it wasn't mentioned in the Council's monthly magazine The Angle, it wasn't promoted in the local newspapers. This survey established (apparently) that amazingly there was now sufficient water space in Ipswich! This was achieved by including all the available private provision (eg the indoor pool at David Lloyd's health club) AND the public pools.
The Council can now justify their recommendation to strip Broomhill Pool of the million pounds restoration money previously pledged.

The above situation is a very good example of how surveys and statistics can be used to come to any conclusion that a council desires! When they want to build a pool, then Ipswich is suffering from under provision of water space; when they want to damage the chances of an Olympic-sized Grade II Listed swimming pool ever being restored, then hey presto a £21,000 survey can magically show that the town now has an over provision of swimming pools.

As the old saying goes: " There are lies, damned lies and then there are reports on Broomhill Pool."

Success for Woodgreen Pool in Banbury

2009-07-27T04:46:00.000-07:00

Campaigners for the Woodgreen Pool in Banbury will have the pleasure of seeing their efforts come to fruition on Thursday 30th July when this lido re-opens.

The Woodgreen Pool closed in 2002 (the same year that Broomhill Pool closed); supporters of the Banbury Pool fought hard for many years to convince Cherwell District Council that re-opening Woodgreen would benefit the area and finally in 2007 the Council's attitude veered round to this point of view.

Prince's Regeneration Trust meet today - Broomhill on the agenda?

2009-02-10T20:52:00.000-08:00

The Prince's Regeneration Trust meet today (February 11th 2009) and hopefully Broomhill Pool will be on the agenda. The Trust has declared its support for Cleveland Pools, the only Georgian Lido in Britain and it would be a wonderful step if Broomhill Lido could also secure their interest.

Updates as available.

Will 2009 see victory for Broomhill Pool campaign?

2009-01-01T04:27:00.000-08:00

This is the seventh year of a campaign to save Broomhill Pool in Ipswich and certainly the most urgent.

Ipswich Borough Council are the owners of this Grade II Listed lido and, until recently, have been content to leave the site simply derelict, since its closure in the autumn of 2002.

In the second week of December 2008, however, reports appeared in the local newspapers stating that the Council were planning major investment in their swimming facilities. This "investment" included the revamp of some very old news that nearly £4 million would be spent on the Crown Pools complex: this money had in fact been voted through early in 2005 and was originally part of a detailed and rolling programme of improvement to spend £1million a year on Crown Pools. Most of this money was never actually spent because IBC wanted to explore the option of building a completely new 50 metre Olympic pool. That plan has now been shelved and the £4 million will now be resurrected to improve the complex.

Fore St Baths in Ipswich will receive £300,000 for refurbishment - a reprieve for this pool, as it was earmarked for closure if the new 50 metre pool idea had been actioned.

The "good news" about refurbishments for Crown Pools and Fore St Baths was very cleverly used to deflect attention from the "health and safety" measures outlined for Broomhill Pool. These consisted of draining the pool, removing the diving boards and replacing the water with some innate material like foam. Indeed , this promotion of a "massive makeover" for the swimming pools of Ipswich was done so effectively that even the BBC website has reported that IBC have "pledged to spend over £100,000 on repairs" at the Broomhill Lido.

It takes a far closer inspection of the Pools Devpt Options report to realise that the Council are intending to dump £55,000 worth of sand and £20,000 worth of granular infill in the pool and that Listed Building Consent has not been sought for this.

The English Heritage website offers advice on all aspects of managing Listed Buildings

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.19378 so there is no excuse for the Council's failure to consult them.

Without a doubt, the move to fill the pool in (voted through on 16th December 2008) represents by far the greatest threat to restoration hopes during this long-fought campaign.

The Sunday Telegraph spoke of Prince Charles' wish to save Britain's heritage during the credit crunch, through the work of the Prince's Regeneration Trust, so I have e-mailed the Trust in the hope that they may be able to support efforts to save the Ipswich Lido.

Option B1: "Mothball" Broomhill Pool until unitary authority established

2008-12-19T23:25:00.000-08:00

This option was voted through by the Executive Committee of Ipswich Borough Council on 16th December 2008:-

Option B1 "Mothball" until unitary authority established.

Drain pool and clear of debris £3,000
Granular fill or similar to base to ensure ground pressure £20,000
Fill with sand or similar material £55,000
Dismantle and secure diving boards £1,000
Remove loose timber and items from view £1,000
Block up apertures to prevent access £10,000
Professional fees £13, 500
Contingency £9,000

My comment: as stressed in the first post, Listed Building Consent has not yet been obtained for these major changes to a Grade II Listed Building.

End of the line for Broomhill Pool?

2008-12-19T22:13:00.000-08:00

On 16th December 2008 the Executive Committee of Ipswich Borough Council met to discuss a report entitled the Pools Development Options report.

This report looked at the options available for the "short to medium term future" of the swimming pools owned by Ipswich Borough Council including Crown Pools, Fore St Baths and Broomhill Pool.

For the Crown Pools complex and for Fore St Baths there is council support, but the option voted through for the Broomhill Lido was dire indeed and is likely to spell the end of any hopes for restoration of this Olympic-sized pool.

Broomhill Pool was opened originally in 1938 and for over 60 years was one of the highlights of the summer season in Ipswich. However, in the autumn of 2002 the gates closed and in February 2003 the local Evening Star made headlines with their Broomhill is Doomhill announcement.

A continuous campaign has been fought to try and save this Grade II Listed pool and a bid for Heritage Lottery Funding was submitted in March 2008 by the Broomhill Pool Trust, with high hopes that it would be successful as it was backed, apparently, by the offer of £1 million from the Council.

In September 2008 the bid was rejected, with the HLF spokesman saying that they needed to see more commitment from Ipswich Borough Council: the £1 million had been promised, but not secured, they said.

The Council's response to the request for more "commitment" was given in this Pools Option report discussed on 16th December and shows that they simply intend to fill the lido in with "granular infill or similar" and "sand or similar". Altogether an estimated £113,000 will be spent on draining the pool, dismantling the diving boards and filling the pool in with £55,000 worth of sand and £20,000 of the granular infill and once this is done, any chances of restoration will be very greatly reduced.

This Pools Development Options was prepared after consultation with the Chief Executive, the Portfolio Holder for Arts, Culture and Leisure, the Head of Finance etc. BUT....... there was no consultation with English Heritage or the Twentieth Century Society or the Council's own Conservation experts.

At the Committee meeting itself, verbal reassurances were given that there would be consultation with heritage organisations after the vote had been taken; but there were no amendments to Option B1 for Broomhill Pool and no written confirmation of such consultation.

The Council are aware that i) Listed Building Consent should be obtained and ii) that failure to obtain such consent can lead to prosecution. But no guarantees were given that Listed Building Consent would actually be obtained before tons of sand and granular infill were poured into our lido.

This Grade II Listed 1938 lido is therefore very much at risk. The Council's decision to prepare a report on making major changes to a Listed property without heritage consultation is a very serious one indeed; I can only infer from this, that they did not believe English Heritage would give consent for these particular measures.