Keeping outdoor swimming afloat

Social enterprises and local volunteers are helping Britain’s lidos fight off closure Rowena Hoseason was dismayed when she discovered Cornwall county council planned to axe its subsidy for Bude sea pool. “When the council withdrew funding for the sea pool, people here were horrified,” she says. The open-air pool built into the rocks at Summerleaze beach in Bude, Cornwall, is one of around 30 tidal pools remaining in the UK – but at 90m long, its size makes it particularly special. “It has been an important part of the community for 80 years,” Hoseason explains. Since the 1930s the pool has provided local people and tourists with a safer outdoor swimming location than the untamed Atlantic. The total cost of running the pool each year is £47,000, but last year Cornwall council announced plans to withdraw its funding in an emergency budget. Hoseason, who runs a publishing company in Bude with her husband, says she chose to move there from London 10 years ago specifically because of the pool. Between April and October she swims two or three times a week. “It’s gorgeous,” she says. Until a few years ago, 80-year-old Pat Walker swam there every day. “It’s a part of Bude,” she says. “It’s beautiful.” Bude sea pool’s situation echoes what has happened at many of Britain’s outdoor pools and lidos in recent years, when they have often seemed easy pickings for councils looking to cut costs. Historic lidos such as Saltdean near Brighton and Broomhill in Ipswich have not been able to rely on authority money for some time, and concerns have recently been raised about the future of the pools at Aldershot in Hampshire, Brynamman in Carmarthenshire and Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire. But rather than lose their pool, some supporters have formed trusts or social enterprises to take over their management. These organisations apply for grants and donations, but are also well-placed to exploit local knowledge to find innovative, site-specific funding solutions. As a result of vociferous campaigning , Bude has won a temporary reprieve. Cornwall county council agreed in February to fund the pool for a further year to enable the local community to take control. In Penzance, the Friends of the Jubilee Pool supporters group was instrumental in persuading the council to save and renovate the pool in the 1980s. But fears for its future have not yet been banished. Cornwall council wants to reduce the pool’s funding – by £40,000 in 2011 – and hand control to a community group by 2014. Supporters of Sandford Parks lido in Cheltenham formed a charitable trust that took over the pool in 1996. The pool’s grounds are used to put on films and plays alongside triathlons and other events. Part of the site is leased to a private gym, and the management works with volunteering charities and the Community Payback scheme to carry out maintenance. These community-run lidos, then, might be a working model for the government’s “big society”: by devolving control, authorities save on operating costs, while users have a say in how the facility is run. And the community as a whole is strengthened through the process of collaboration. Last week a working group met to plan a community takeover of Bude sea pool and six people put themselves forward as committee members. Hoseason, who will chair the group, says: “The first task is to decide which model of organisation is best. Then we can bring in the next layer of people. It would be more practical if the council carried on running it, but I suspect its long-term future will be much more secure if it’s in the hands of the locals.” Supporters are determined not to charge for entry, but have discussed options such as increasing charges at the nearby car park, putting donation boxes near the pool or in local shops, running an ice-cream kiosk and cloakroom service, and possibly leasing the site for a cafe. Fundraising concerts and beach parties have been suggested, and councils have also pledged financial support. “There is an acknowledgement that Bude does pull people down to this area,” says Hoseason. In Penzance, Martin Nixon, chair of

Posted by on March 15, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.