Bude sea pool handed from Cornwall Council to charity

The pool is topped up twice a day at high tide - one of very few tidal pools remaining in the UK

The management of a sea pool in North Cornwall has been officially transferred from local authority control to a charity.

The Friends of Bude Sea Pool (FoBSP) has been granted a 99 year lease from Cornwall Council after it submitted a business proposal in the autumn.

The sea pool was created in the 1930s and is used by local residents and holidaymakers.

The group was formed after pressures on council budgets threatened its future.

'Iconic structure'

Paul Tilzey, chair of FoBSP, said: "I like most of the people of Bude have a love affair with the pool.

"As children we played, jumped, dived and swam, with no restrictions, in the safe confines of the pool and it is only right that we should allow our children, and children for generations to come the privilege of using the facility."

Mr Tilzey added that, as a major tourist destination, it was vitally important to look after Bude's "iconic structure".

The pool is topped up twice a day at high tide - one of very few tidal pools remaining in the UK.

The Conservative-Independent-run council announced last year it was withdrawing funding from the pool.

Its leader, Alec Robertson, said the transfer to the charity was a "testament to the hard work of the Friends of Bude Sea Pool and the local community".

The council has agreed to help support ongoing maintenance of the site and will provide FoBSP with some financial security in its first few years.