Proposals set out for future of community pool

A new proposal has been set out by a campaign group

Campaigners fighting to reopen their local swimming pool have set out a list of proposals aimed at bringing back the facility.

Bingley Pool had been in line for a portion of £14m in Levelling Up funding under the previous Conservative government, but the new Labour government confirmed that Bingley's bid had been rejected.

The Friends of Bingley Pool are now proposing that a community organisation - such as their own - take on an initial five-year lease of the building to prevent it from being sold off.

They hope this arrangement will provide the time and stability needed to finalise a detailed business plan and refurbishment designs that can be tendered to pool contractors.

The group suggested it was "appropriate and necessary" for Bradford Council to meet the holding costs for the pool during the initial five-year lease.

It said the council "should have maintained the pool in good working order to enable a previously planned Community Asset Transfer to go ahead, and failed to do so".

Bingley Pool was closed in 2020 during the Covid pandemic and was never reopened.

The Friends will ask the council to create a design for a six-lane, 25m competition pool, using existing plans, and suggest it use some or all of the £1.3m it had allocated to the Levelling Up funding bid.

To cover the cost of refurbishment, the group said it would lead a fundraising campaign.

The group will also request a repeat of pool water modelling, which would assess whether local swimming pool provisions were sufficient to meet community demand.

It will also propose becoming an associate body of the council under the lease agreement or getting assurances from the council to use its banking and cash flow facilities.

A meeting to discuss the group's proposals is to be fixed in the next few weeks.

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