Swimming pool reopening 'frozen' by government

Bingley Pool opened in 1927 but has been closed since 2020

A long-running campaign to reopen a town's pool has hit another funding hurdle.

In March the Conservative government announced it had awarded £14m of Levelling Up money to Bingley, including a grant for the refurbishment of the swimming baths, which closed in 2020.

Bradford Council had applied for the funding for its Revitalising Bingley project but was surprised when the bid was successful.

But the BBC has learned that the Towns Fund schemes have now been put on hold while the new Labour government reassesses them.

The previous chancellor Jeremy Hunt included the £14 million of Levelling Up money for Bingley in his last budget

Bingley town councillor Marcus Dearden is a former chair of the Friends of Bingley Pool.

He and Bingley's other two councillors, all Labour, have written an open letter to Shipley's new Labour MP, Anna Dixon, asking her to help safeguard the bid.

Mr Dearden said: "We've recently heard that they've frozen all the Towns Fund bids and Levelling Up bids that haven't passed the Stage 2 criteria.

"We've got in touch with our MP and we're urging residents to contact her and lobby her to ensure that Bingley gets the funding to create this facility.

"But if it fails then we've got to look at the options across the district and which is better for the district."

The councillor said he was sceptical as to why the bid was suddenly accepted by the previous government back in March just months before the general election, after it was initially rejected in 2023.

Bradford Council says it is waiting to find out whether the funding is still in place or not

The Revitalising Bingley scheme included an upgraded pool in the existing building and improvements to the market square.

The council announced plans to cut £1.2m from its leisure centres budget before the surprise confirmation that the funding bid had been accepted.

A council spokesperson said: “The Bingley Pool bid has been through the first two stages of validation and we are progressing with plans.

“We are liaising with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) about how best to proceed, whilst we wait for confirmation that the funding is still in place.”

Anna Dixon, the MP for Shipley, was unavailable for comment.

She previously posted on X that the scheme had been "hollow promises" and that she was pushing to meet with minister to progress it.

A spokeswoman for the MHCLG said it did not want to issue a statement but that it understood local areas were seeking clarification on funding.

The government would set out further details on this matter in due course, she added.

The pool was shut due to structural issues.