Work to reopen swimming pool still not started

A project to restore a 1930s lido that has been shut for decades has still not started.

The Grade II listed Broomhill Pool in Ipswich, Suffolk, closed in 2002, and plans to renovate it were repeatedly stalled due to a lack of funding.

Ipswich Borough Council, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Fusion Lifestyle then came together to agree a deal to save the lido, but the work was postponed when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

The project has seen continuous delays since then, which Mike Read, president of Broomhill Pool Trust, said was "heartbreaking".

At the end of last year, the council had to consider a second planning application around the project after the initial permission expired.

It was approved despite Fusion Lifestyle, which is leading on the project, stating the month before, there was a "small funding shortfall" that it was working to bridge.

Six months later, the project still has not started after the National Heritage Lottery Fund wanted to perform financial due diligence on the project.

"No one is in disagreement with due diligence, it's just part of the timing which is so frustrating," Mr Read said.

"[Fusion Lifestyle] is a company that has already worked with the National Lottery Heritage Fund on several occasions, so we might have hoped that would count for things.

"But what I feel is the most important question is not what it is costing, but is this investment good value for money":[]}