Our online petition to Save Grange Lido has attracted over 4000 signatures in just four days, which means the issue can now be debated by South Lakeland District Council’s cabinet.
We are putting the finishing touches to a business plan to present to South Lakeland District Council who are currently planning on investing nearly 2 million pounds to save the grade II listed structure, however their plans do not include restoring swimming to the site.
Our Save Grange Lido group comprises of passionate locals who aim to change SLDC’s thinking by presenting an ambitious but robust and fully costed business plan to return the site to its former glory.
Pam Parker, who launched the petition on ‘change.org’ and is on the Save Grange Lido Committee said,
“When we launched the petition I thought it would take a few weeks to collect the signatures we needed but I was astonished to see the number of signatures rise so quickly. We reached the target of 1000 in just a few hours!”
“The petition says: ‘We want Grange Lido restoration to include the swimming pool, and South Lakeland District Council to confirm that any option without a swimming pool will be ruled out” we hope this will get the council to confirm that they will not fill the pool basin with concrete as they are planning to do.’
Pam said “SLDC rules say that petitions with 1000 or more signatures must be debated in Full Council which will give us a fantastic opportunity to hear what the councillors have to say.”
In 2018 a Community Interest Company was established to find alternative uses for the pool site. They have ruled out swimming and claim public interest in retaining a pool has fallen remarkedly.
Phil Bradby, chair of Save Grange Lido, said “this statement from the CIC is clearly not true at all. The interest in the Lido and outdoor swimming has never been higher as the incredible response to the petition and the 3000 supporters on Facebook show. Some councillors have also been saying that in the last consultation showed that there was no local interest in swimming in the Lido but they neglect to say that the consultation didn’t offer swimming as an option! The consultation immediately before it which had a swimming pool in the range of options showed that 74% of people wanted it restored as a swimming pool”
“We think that without a swimming pool the Lido ceases to have any function and won’t attract visitors. It will just become a sad patch of concrete where a Lido used to be and no-doubt will become another council white elephant”
“Sport for England’s Active People Survey showed the huge increase in outdoor swimming in the last few years and other Lidos in the country have seen a huge renaissance and are booming. They say that swimming is still the UK’s most popular participation sport with 2.5 million adults swimming each week”
“Grange Lido has the potential to be the jewel in South Lakes’ crown and to attract visitors from far and wide. We are confident that our business plan can make the Lido economically viable and would bring excellent value to local taxpayers and swimmers alike”
The plan acknowledges the difficulty of making a swimming pool pay its way in the temperamental UK climate, however, Grange Lido is very fortunate to have a good range of useful buildings which present excellent opportunities to generate income to cover the running costs of the whole facility. The imaginative use of these buildings is the key to the successful redevelopment and future of the Lido.
If you would like to support our cause, please sign our online petition. A link can be found here.