Harrogate Borough Council

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18 August 2008 - A council that promised to secure Starbeck Bath's medium term future will this week approve £184,000 to undertake essential maintenance and improvement work.

 

Following a number of detailed consultants' reports and other options for the future of the Baths, Harrogate Borough Council decided in December 2007 to allocate £760,000 to cover a 10 year-maintenance plan to make sure the Baths would remain open.

 

Members of the council's Cabinet will this week agree that £184,000 be spent this year.

Specialist consultants, the Brentwood Group, concluded that £380,000 would be required for improvements during the next five years and a similar amount for years 6-10 to enable the Baths to continue to be successfully used as a public swimming pool.

 

The identified essential works to these Victorian Baths for year 1 include improvements to the changing facilities, repairs to the poolside floor and walls, replacement of the suspended ceiling over the pool, structural works to the basement, boiler replacement and redecoration works. As the most economical and least disruptive option is to close the Baths for a five-week period the council will also take the opportunity to carry out work to the reception area.

 

Councillor Pat Jones, Cabinet Member for Cultural Services, has recommended that the Cabinet approves the works and a short closure of the pool between 17 November and 21 December.

 

She said: ""This is an exciting time for the users of Starbeck Baths and they will certainly be able to see and benefit from the improvements. However, this is a huge amount of work and much of it can't be done while the pool is operating. We could have done it piecemeal which would have meant frequent shorter closers but that would be disruptive for customer and of course our staff."

 

Councillor Andrew Jones, Cabinet Member for Resources, has congratulated the leisure, museums and arts team who have achieved considerable revenue savings in order to make these works possible.

 

He said: "The tremendous work undertaken by leisure staff in completely reviewing their operations, enabled considerable savings to be identified and led to the establishment of the Leisure Fund that we announced last year. Ongoing savings continue to boost this fund that was established solely to invest in our range of cultural buildings and we expect to continue investments of this magnitude." ENDS

 

NOTE TO EDITORS: Starbeck Baths are 130 years old, having been originally built in 1870. Previously known as the Prince of Wales Baths, they became one of the foremost Spa attractions in the Victorian era