Broomhill Pool

IPSWICH: The ten-year battle to reopen Broomhill has taken a potentially decisive step forward after the borough decided to back the private firm hoping to restore the pool.

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The borough is to invite Fusion Lifestyle to take on the restoration of the pool – a project which would see the pool itself restored and a new 50-station fitness centre built in the Grade II listed changing rooms.

But while this is a potentially 
decisive step forward, borough leisure spokeswoman Bryony Rudkin warned restoration work was still some way off.

She said: “I don’t want people to think that restoration work is going to start next week or next month, but this is an important stage in the process.”

Fusion Lifestyle will now be asked to confirm it wants to take over the pool. It will then be asked to come up with a solid business plan that can be backed by the council.

These stages could take at least six months – and the full restoration could be a few years away.

The borough has offered a capital sum of £1million towards the restoration of the pool, but the operators would need to find more than £3million in further funding – probably through a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

Mrs Rudkin said talks with the HLF had been promising, but it was unable to finance leisure projects – any funding would have to be on the basis of the heritage value.

Gareth Jones, from the Friends of Broomhill, was delighted at the result. He said: “This is what we had been hoping for but we had no idea what would happen.

“Now we will all have to work together with Fusion Lifestyle to develop a successful bid for the HLF. That should not be too difficult – the heritage value of Broomhill is enormous.”

But not everyone was happy. Some residents of Sherrington Road do not want to see the pool restored – they want the site to be cleared and restored to parkland.

Alan Holden told the meeting residents were concerned about congestion in the road, about pollution and about the threat of vandalism.

He said: “The area around the pool is mainly parkland, not a car park. With society changes and the expansion of Ipswich, the pool is now in the wrong place.”

Mrs Rudkin said the concerns were valid and the council and operators would work to try to reduce any disruption caused by pool users.

n Are you happy about the proposed restoration of the pool? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail 
eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk