Project News Article

LIDO OPENING DREAMS SUNK

Gloucestershire Echo - 24 April 2007

www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk

Sandford Parks Lido won't open for the May Day bank holiday - and bosses cannot say when it will. Vital rendering to seal the swimming pool walls, done as part of the Lido's long awaited £700,000 makeover, has not worked.

Contractors may have to redo the job from scratch at a cost of £17,000.

Specialists are arriving to look at the pool today - but no one yet knows how long the work will take, or when the Lido will be able to reopen.

The Victorian opening extravaganza planned for the bank holiday weekend (May 5 to May 7) has been postponed.

Season ticket holders will be receive letters next week to let them know they will get a discount for every week of the season they cannot swim.

Lido Trust chief executive Julie Sargent said: "Some of the new render we have put in on the pool walls has failed to take correctly. This means we are likely to have to recoat the entire pool.

"We are extremely disappointed. We worked full time on raising funds and on the restoration project.

"We are so unhappy about this but we feel we have very little choice. We can't cut corners as this is about making sure the pool is here for the future as much as that it's open as soon as possible.

"The specialists are here today to see exactly what has to be done and when we can open.

"We can't name a new date yet but we will be working to get the doors open as soon as possible."

The trust is contacting more than 300 people who have bought season tickets and another 400 more who were interested in purchasing the tickets to offer discounts.

Ms Sargent said: "We will be taking the season ticket period and breaking it down week by week so that we can offer appropriate discounts and partial refunds.

"It is only fair to our users, who won't be able to come along when they expected to."

It is a bitter blow for Lido executives who fought for several years to raise the money for the renovation work.

They started their campaign after cracks started to appear in the 1930s pool.

In 2003 the Lido launched its Buy Us A Pint Appeal, which raised £250,000 over three years. Another £382,000 was awarded in Heritage Lottery funding.

Gloucestershire Environmental Trust and Cory Environmental gave £50,000.

The work included replacing the 50m pool's concrete tank, laying new paving stones and re-lining the pool with tiles replicating the original 1935 design. It is intended to guarantee the Lido's future for the next 60 years.

Ms Sargent said: "Until the specialists are finished and give us their full report, we can't say for certain where the money for the new rendering will come from.

"What we can promise is that we are working our hardest with the best specialists we can find to make sure the work is completed to the highest standards, and that we are doing everything within our power to improve and protect the Lido for the future."