Jubilee Pool: Community group hoping to save venue must share profits

Bristol City Council insists that it cannot afford to keep the Jubilee swimming pool in Knowle, open, and plans to permanently shut it next year

A community group in Bristol has been told it will have to share its profits with the council if it takes over the running of a public swimming pool.

Earlier this year, the city council planned to shut down Jubilee Pool but it was saved due to public pressure.

However, the council insists it cannot afford to keep it open and plans to permanently shut it next year unless it can find a new operator.

Friends of Jubilee Pool is putting together a bid to manage the facility.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said if the group's bid to run the pool, in Knowle, was successful, the council would hand over a lease of up to 35 years in a 'community asset transfer'.

However, information provided to Friends of Jubilee Pool by Bristol City Council shows the group would have to give a percentage of the profits back to the authority if the venue was to become "very successful and profitable" under their management.

Debbie Reid, from the community group, said it was "a concern" the group did not know what the percentage would be and that they would like "any profit made to be reinvested into the fabric of the building" as it had "been neglected for so long".

'Responsible thing'

According to the prospectus, the lease would be "subject to a profit-sharing agreement that will only be operable after the fifth year and only if net profit exceeds a pre-determined threshold".

Such arrangements are standard practice in community asset transfer agreements, LDRS said.

Knowle Community Party councillor Gary Hopkins asked city mayor Marvin Rees to reconsider imposing the profit-share arrangement and asked to explain why it was sensible to demand a share of future profits when officers were adamant the pool "had no opportunity to ever survive under any circumstances".

Mr Rees said in a written answer that a profit-share clause is a standard requirement for assets that have the potential to generate a substantial operating profit and "there will be a bar of financial performance that has to be met before the profit-share arrangement kicks in."

"It's the responsible thing to do as a local authority to make sure that, if we are going to go through a community asset transfer route and it is going to be a very profitable venture, that we look out for the financial interests of the authority."

Cabinet members will decide on the future of the pool in February.

If the community asset transfer proceeds, a final decision on the successful bid will be made by the end of May 2022 and the pool would be under new management by July.