Bathing pool listed as part of island's culture

The listing bans activities which could damage or deface the site

A seawater pool opened to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee has been listed.

The Victoria Marine Lake in St Helier has been given grade 4 listed status by the government because it makes a "significant contribution to the local character and identity" of Jersey.

The pool was closed two years ago after damage to the sea wall leading to a campaign calling on the government to restore and reopen it.

St Helier North Deputy Inna Gardiner said the listing "confirms what we've always known - that the Lake is not just a piece of stonework by the sea, but a living part of Jersey's social and cultural story since 1897."

She said listing was a "vital step toward protecting and restoring" it for the community.

The listing, dated 21 October, said the pool still "has a number of surviving, though highly corroded and damaged, ladders and two sluice gates".

It said the Victorian pool "is comparable with both UK and local listed sea-water bathing pools", including the Havre des Pas Pool in Jersey, the Marine Terrace Tidal Pool and the Walpole Tidal Pool in Kent.

The formal process of listing a building is carried out by Jersey's Department of the Environment, which is advised by Jersey Heritage.

Earlier this week the government said it would carry out emergency repairs to the pool.

The decision followed a public meeting in September and a petition signed by more than 1,500 people.

A £315,000 repair project in 2014 failed to attract sustained public use, largely because of sea lettuce in St Aubin's Bay, the government said.