Bath’s Georgian lido, which only reopened for swimming last year after a 20-year campaign, remains closed for the foreseeable future because of flood damage to its “flood-proof” plant room.
The Cleveland Pools in Bath just before it opened last year | Photo © Anthony Brown
The Cleveland Pools site at Bathwick is next to the River Avon.
The Pools had been closed for almost 40 years before the reopening last September following a campaign led by volunteers and support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
In a statement, the chair of Cleveland Pools Trust Paul Simons said: “The site of the Cleveland Pools has flooded twice since the New Year following exceptional rainfall.
“The flooding issue was fully investigated and taken into consideration when designing the scheme prior to the commencement of works on site.
“The project was completed in September 2022 and when the site flooded in the spring of 2023 floodwaters were contained and managed as anticipated.
“In January ‘24 the flooding found its way into the plant room and has caused significant damage to the installations, leaving the pools currently inoperable.
“The plant room was designed and built to be completely flood-proof.
“The Cleveland Pools Trust is now in the process of establishing the reasons for this failure of performance and is determined to find the quickest way possible to bring the pools back into use.
“At the present time it is not possible to establish a timescale for the re-opening of the Cleveland Pools. After the enormous efforts of so many to achieve the reopening of the pools, the Trust regrets this disruption to those wishing to use and enjoy the facilities.”
The running of Cleveland Pools is managed by Fusion.
Rob Taylor, Fusion’s regional manager, said: “Fusion shares the disappointment and frustrations of the Trust around the continuing delays and are working closely with the Trust to get the pools open as soon as possible.”
