GENERAL LEAFLET - BROOMHILL POOL (4th page)

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!

Will 2009 see victory for Broomhill Pool campaign?

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.