Summer 2014 Update

Apologies, this is a long overdue update. And a ‘long update’ at the same time! Please read it, like it, share it, repost it, and whatever else you can do to get as many people reading as possible.

Ok… we hope by now you’ve realised that this ambitious project won’t happen overnight, and that you’ve stopped wondering why a small group of volunteers haven’t been able to get this pool up and running for the 2014 summer season.

You know who you are. ;o)

Well, first a brief recap of where we are and how we got here. As a group representing public opinion (that’s you lot!) we objected to a planning application in 2013 put forward by the Local Authority to concrete in the old outdoor pool. The application was successfully withdrawn, and in 2013 we presented the Local Authority with an alternative proposal.

That proposal was a comprehensive business plan and feasibility study for the positive regeneration of the site as a heated outdoor swimming pool. This involved quite an extensive body of work and pulled in the skills and expertise of a wide range of industry experts.

We’re talking Services Engineers, Architects, Structural Engineers, Swimming Pool experts, Cost Consultants, Landscape Designers, Contractors who advised on buildability, Transport Engineers, Lawyers, Tax experts, Business advisors… together with a raft of user group feedback and the positive feedback of local residents and the wider community, some of whom lived hundreds of miles away but still have incredibly fond memories of that sorry looking structure on the corner of Longsands Beach.

Those memories were perhaps the most surprising thing to us. The pool really is embedded in people’s childhoods, holidays, families, friends and histories, and we didn’t realise just how much people loved that pool until we started this project. With the benefit of hindsight of course, it’s become obvious to see just how woven into people’s memories the pool really is.

Plus, despite what you may think, the Local Authority have actually been very supportive of the proposals; the current Mayor especially, as well as many local MPs across parties. We have no political axe to grind and nothing to gain by upsetting the Local Authority. The bottom line is that this project WILL NOT HAPPEN without the Local Authority as a key supportive partner.

So, how do we intend to keep moving this project forward? We have already had a number of enquiries from private investors who are interested in our proposals. However, as you may be aware, the site has been available for development for decades, and the reason it hasn’t moved forward are the negative costs associated with getting the existing site into a viable development state (commonly referred to as enabling works.)

Firstly it’s an SSSE (Site of Special Scientific Interest). It’s in a Conservation Area. It can also flood. The existing pool tank has been in-filled with boulders and rocks. The retaining wall structure has been buried under tons of building debris and clay. And access for construction is severely restricted. All of this means it’s NOT a good investment opportunity for someone simply wanting to return a profit on their investment (purely based on the sheer amount of restrictions and enabling works required).

However. ALL of these obstacles (and others) are surmountable. For example, the pool can be built so that it has no detrimental effect on wintering birds; we’ve had positive feedback from the local Conservation Officer and have a conservation specialist in the wings (pardon the pun), waiting to go. We know quite a lot about the mix of the concrete that was tipped into the pool in the 90s, as we’ve spoken to the engineer who specified it and we know what’s involved in taking it out again. We know that attenuation tanks and defensive barriers can mitigate against flood risk. We know that the retaining wall is still there, and that any infill and debris can be safely removed.

However, these issues are all on a future ‘to-do’ list. What we can do right now, and what we ARE doing, is the extensive background legwork that will make this development more attractive to investors and funders. Our current push is focused on producing a full Planning Application for the site, together with an extensive (and expensive!) document called an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which is a necessary supporting document for the planning application itself.

In January, we also applied for Development Funding from Heritage Lottery which would have directly funded the EIA and the development of a full design proposal for submission to planning in support of our working business proposal for the site to include a heated pool, a gym, a destination restaurant and a multi use community space. We applied to HLF’s national fund rather than the regional fund and were strongly supported locally by HLF. Unfortunately, we narrowly missed out in an incredibly competitive, oversubscribed, bidding process, and discovered we were in direct competition with numerous large national projects, museums, forests and military anniversary projects.

Missing out on HLF funding was disappointing – but only in so much as it slows things down. With development funding we can move much faster… without it, we have had to rely on our reserves from donations which means things will move much, much slower.

Still, to date we (but mostly you!) have funded a detailed feasibility report, a business plan, a highly positive report into the extraction of geothermal hot water on the site, a specialist heating design tool to assist in calculating heating loads linked with various opening times, an analysis of the existing site services, a preliminary transport assessment, and a wintering birds study.

And that is seriously impressive stuff.

It means that our aim remains the same as it always has. We continue to push ahead progressing a detailed planning application and EIA, while at the same time pursuing funding and investment opportunities from a wide range of sources.

Your generous donations and continued support and encouragement have been fantastic. It confirms that we all agree the proposal for a heated outdoor pool can work as a business model. We agree that the pool can be built. And we agree that it would be a major tourist draw for the region.

What the project needs is your continued support… until it eventually captures the funding and investment to become a reality. It has certainly already captured the public imagination and because of that it continues to gain momentum day by day.

We want this momentum to keep growing until the project is unstoppable.