Bath's Cleveland Pools renovation to go ahead

The site has become derelict since closing in 1984

The UK's only surviving Georgian lido is to be restored after campaigners received a National Lottery grant.

The group behind Cleveland Pools, in Bath, has secured £4.7m to allow work on the 200-year-old site to begin.

The Grade-II* listed site includes two bathing pools, a private ladies pool and original changing rooms.

It first opened in 1815 and closed in 1984. It has since deteriorated and was put on English Heritage's Heritage at Risk register.

The open air pools first opened in 1815

Work on the £5.7m restoration is expected to start late next year and be completed in early 2021.

The Cleveland Pools Trust has already raised a further £800,000 towards the total cost of the scheme.

It will become the first open air pool in the UK to be naturally treated, and will be heated in part by pumps in the adjacent River Avon.

Paul Simons, chairman of the Cleveland Pools trustees, said: "After 14 years' hard work the trust's efforts have finally succeeded in guaranteeing the future of this unique place and community asset."

The site was popular with swimmers up until it closed in the 1980s