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.

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

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?

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.