Bath’s historic Cleveland Pools, which reopened in September 2023 following years of campaigning and restoration before being significantly damaged by flooding in January 2024, may never reopen, it has been revealed.
The Cleveland Pools in Bath | Photo © Anthony Brown / Cleveland Pools Trust
The site has been closed to the public since floodwater entered and caused considerable damage to the pools’ operating plant and machinery in its plant room.
A financial document submitted by the Cleveland Pools Trust to Companies House last month has also confirmed that the structure and connecting pipework were also damaged by the flooding.
Flooding had been expected at the pools due to the close proximity with the River Avon. The document says the designs for the project took into consideration the potential for flooding, with the “installation of electrical systems and technical equipment to be beyond the reach of the predicted flood levels.”
“This damage caused by the flooding should not have happened, and the Trust instigated a series of
investigations to establish the cause and Impact of this regrettable event.”
At the time of the flooding, the site was being managed by Fusion Lifestyle, after a sub-lease was negotiated in September 2023. The operational management of the pools was transferred to them, on a full repair and maintenance basis.
More than £9 million was raised over 20 years to restore the Georgian lido, with millions of pounds of National Lottery Heritage Funding put into the project.
The National Lottery funded more than £6.7 million of the restoration, with Bath & North East Somerset Council providing £765,000. The local authority also gave £557,230 of funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund, in conjunction with Salix. Historic England gave more than £536,000, and public and grant donations totalled more than £438,000.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund gave more funding, £250,000, to the Cleveland Pools Trust so it could engage with professionals and contractors to assess the damage and find out the cause. The trust also used some of the additional funding for limited legal advice.
Construction and installation of a pontoon at the Cleveland Pools site to allow people to arrive by boat continued after the flooding event, with work finishing in summer 2025, costing around £460,000.
The financial report details that “the risk that the cost to repair the pools and the plantroom will be substantial, and beyond the resources available to the trust.”
Due to this, “there is therefore a risk that the pools cannot be repaired and reopened”.
The Cleveland Pools Trust says it is exploring all potential avenues that would allow the pools to be repaired and reopened, including but not limited to legal recourse and external funding.
The 207-year-old, Grade II* listed site has a chequered history, from the lows of its closure in 1984, and a threat of demolition in 2003, to its reopening and present-day situation.
Construction work at the site was carried out by local construction company and heritage restoration specialist Beard Construction. Bath-based architectural practice Donald Insall Associates carried out the design work.
The report notes that the ongoing costs for running the trust and investigating the cause of the damage are being met for the foreseeable future, thanks to the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and B&NES Council.
However, it continues: “As yet, the quantum of the costs of repair are not yet known. The trustees remain determined to see the pools reopened and will try to identify the source of funds to complete the repairs”.
If funding cannot be found to secure the future of the pools and rectify the damage, the Cleveland Pools Trust may pass the site to another entity, and then be wound up. The trust has said it aims to secure funding and reopen the pools.
A number of trustees, who all work voluntarily, have resigned in recent months.
