Work to save lido from crumbling into sea

Work is under way to reinforce the corner of the sea pool which is separating from the main structure

Work is being carried out to stop a 100-year-old lido falling into the sea after the project received public funding.

The renovations to secure the badly cracked ocean facing wall and damaged floor of Shoalstone Seawater Pool in Brixham was expected to cost more than £750,000.

Paid for by grants and match funding, it is hoped the work will keep the pool in use for the next century.

The volunteers who run Shoalstone Seawater Pool Community Interest Company said they still needed to raise more money to paint and improve facilities once the structural work was complete.

Jessica Stock said the pool was particularly at risk during storms

Jessica Stock, chairwoman of trustees of Shoalstone Sea Water Pool, said: "The north-west corner is beginning to pull away from the pool.

"We've got to the stage where any easterly storm would have taken out the pool.

"This phase of the works is here to secure that... and secure the base of the pool because we had water coming up through it.

"We weren't water tight."

Water is pouring through cracks in the old pool wall

Dyson Construction is ahead of schedule for the first phase of the work, which was made possible after a £500,000 grant from the Local Government, Community Ownership Fund.

This was topped up with local fundraising and support from Torbay and Brixham councils, taking the total to £750,000.

The work will secure the structure but the project has not been without its challenges.

Once they drilled down, they realised repairing the floor of the pool would be more complicated than first thought.

Structural coastal engineer Tim Grimes and operations manager David Thomas

Tim Grimes, structural coastal engineer, said: "It's complicated by how the pool has changed over the years.

"It started off as a Victorian rock pool, sea pool and that's been built on top of.

"When it gets pounded by the waves, everything moves and acts independently, so the new scheme will stitch it back together so it can withstand these larger storms we are seeing."

A historical picture shows a swimming gala at Shoalstone Pool

Next year the pool will have been welcoming swimmers here for the past 100 years and events are planned to celebrate.

The first event is on Saturday from 09:00 to 10:00 BST and people are invited to see how work is progressing.

Organisers said they wanted those with memories of the pool to bring their own photos so they could share how the community has enjoyed the facilities over the generations.