MP backs community takeover campaign for pool

Shipley MP Anna Dixon (centre) visited Bingley Pool recently

An MP has backed plans to save a former council swimming pool and have it transferred into public hands.

Anna Dixon, Labour MP for Shipley, said she wanted to help save Bingley Pool and bring it back into public use.

Last month, Bradford Council confirmed it planned to sell the facility, which closed in 2020, as part of efforts to plug a multi-million pound funding gap.

The pool will be put on the market as an Asset of Community Value (ACV), meaning any community group would have six months to put together a bid to buy it.

Dixon, who visited the site with members of the Friends of Bingley Pool (FoBP) campaign group and local councillors last week to assess its current condition, said: "We now have a great opportunity to secure the future of the Bingley Pool building for our local community, and the next step is to develop a strong business case for the community asset transfer."

She said the pool was "a beautiful building" which held "special meaning for so many people in Bingley" as well as those from further afield.

The MP was part of a delegation who were allowed inside the building by Bradford Council

As well as asking people to share their memories of the site she has also encouraged them to come forward with their ideas for how the building could be brought back into use.

Jeremy Thackray, chair of the Friends of Bingley Pool, said: "Anna's helped to get this site visit put together where we've struggled to get that access directly from Bradford Council ourselves.

"So we've been pleased to have her influence in bringing those things about.

"Now comes the next step in helping us put together that business plan with some hard figures and some serious arguments that can help to sway [the] council when our bid is alongside those cash bids from private sources."

Jeremy Thackray is the chairman of the Friends of Bingley Pool

Mr Thackray said no price for the pool and its buildings had been announced but he had been quoted unofficial estimates ranging between £200,000 and £500,000.

He said FoBP had been given "guarantees" the council would consider the "social value" of bids as well as the amount of money offered.

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

A petition launched by the FoBP in May calling for the swimming pool to be saved from closure has reached more than 8,500 signatures.

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