Ilkley Pool and Lido Community Group have provided a Briefing to Bradford Council for the Review of our pool and lido. The full briefing can be found here : Key Issues for the BMDC Sports Facilities Service Review July 24
Everything should be done to make Ilkley Pool and Lido viable. Other pools and lidos around the country are successful, and Ilkley Pool and Lido can be too if it copies how they operate by matching swimming sessions and opening hours to demand. Other pools are open longer, have more lessons, have different approaches to charging, partner with their community to offer a range of events, and cost less to run. We have worked with an expert advisory group of five successful Pools and Lidos who all say that Ilkley Pool and Lido can be much more efficient.
The first step must be to review how Ilkley Pool and Lido operate. Assessing the options of closure or collaboration without modernisation would be negligent and an abdication of the responsibility of the Council to provide public services to secure the health and wealth of Bradford and West Yorkshire.
We believe that what is needed is an independent strategic review that includes the Mayor, an Advisory Group and experts with experience in securing viable pools and lidos.
The review takes place in the context of the following contradictory policy and planning:
- The need to find significant extensive cost reductions.
- A recognition at the outset of the view by the Council that “Bradford has the lowest level of provision of all the comparable councils in West Yorkshire.”(Report of strategic director of place 5th March)
- The West Yorkshire Mayor’s Yorkshire Plan Mission 2 “We will ensure that where you live helps promote good health, active lives, and wellbeing, and that life expectancy aligns with the national average“,
The Review must take into consideration that:
- Ilkley Pool and Lido is fundamental to the wellbeing of people in Ilkley and regular visitors from across the region and beyond. 30% of our community user survey respondents were from outside Ilkley.
- Ilkley pool has 12 local primary schools that attend weekly(1). All our children have a right to learn how to swim in a pool that they are able to access easily. We do have deprivation in Ilkley (180 families on free school meals) and closure would increase inequalities here.
- There is public demand for the pools. Alongside the many recreational visitors of all ages, our swimming club has 145 plus swimmers ages from 8 to over 65 swimming up to three times a week and and there are 250 people on the waiting list for swimming lessons.
- Bradford already has the “lowest level of provision of all the comparable councils in West Yorkshire.”(Report of strategic director of place 5th March). Families in Bradford District deserve the same access to leisure facilities as families in Leeds and London.
- Ilkley Pool and Lido are vital to our area’s economy and prosperity. It is a huge draw for local visitors and tourists who are attracted by the Lido’s heritage status and uniqueness.
- Bradford District is the next UK City of Culture, a celebration rooted in the unique heritage and character of the Bradford District as a whole. The potential loss of one of Bradford’s most iconic and popular heritage attractions in the midst of a national campaign to preserve and celebrate the city’s history is appalling.
- The river is a draw to people, but it is also a risk in terms of their health from drowning and from sewage and agricultural pollution. Without Ilkley Pool and Lido we will see an increase in people using the river, at a risk to public health.
We have worked with an advisory group (2) and believe that Ilkley Pool and Lido can be viable in the as evidenced by their success. This requires a new way of working at Ilkley Pool and Lido and with the Council to increase utilisation and income. It requires a review of the key benchmarked costs and how these can be reduced in line with comparable pools and lidos.
There is wealth of untapped assets in the community that are not being considered. The Council can and should engage with the community to bring those assets to bear.
We believe, on the basis of discussions with other pools and lidos, and our own community engagement and consultative processes that Ilkley Pool & Lido has a viable, thriving and sustainable future as a destination for Ilkley, Bradford, West Yorkshire and tourists from the UK and abroad.
We believe this is best realised by a partnership between the Council, the community and stakeholders in the domains of sport, health and the arts.
The option of closure or asset transfer should not be recommended until all other options have been fully explored and exhausted. We ask the Council to:
- Undertake an independent review that brings stakeholders together, provides a set of strategic options for the future of the services, explores all the funding options for Ilkley Pool and Lido within a strategic direction for access to pools to secure the health and wellbeing of the Bradford community;
- Review all costs against benchmarked data and secure contractual efficiencies. Benchmark fees and increase in line with benchmarked providers. Bring in the CEO/Manager of another provider to review the operations of Ilkley Pool and Lido to advise on utilisation, income and cost efficiencies;
- Increase utilisation in line with pools and lidos across the UK, by extending opening hours and the Lido season;
- Monitor the impact of 2 & 3 above on the income and utilisation of Ilkley Pool and Lido;.
- Undertake a building condition survey. Rapidly explore the range of capital funding options through grants that are currently available for pools and lidos in collaboration with the community;
- Establish a partnership agreement and Board with the Ilkley Pool and Lido community to bring locally gifted assets to bear on the operational capacity of Ilkley Pool and Lido. Work in partnership to bring the potential of these assets to bear in the development of a vibrant and thriving programme of activity at Ilkley Pool and Lido.
(1) Report of the Strategic Director of Place to the meeting of Executive. 5th March 2024
(2) David Wilford, Bramley Baths; Chris Porter, Tadcaster pool ; Ian Orton, Settle Pool; Annabel Wright, Jesus Green Lido (unheated); Bill Hanley, Hathersage Lido (heated).