'No route to funding' for closed pool - council

Millions of pounds allocated to a cancelled leisure centre project cannot be committed to reopen a closed swimming pool, a council has said.

The Reform UK-led Bradford Council said it could not pledge to spend £14.6m of Levelling Up money - which it received for the cancelled Squire Lane Leisure Centre - on other projects.

Campaigners had urged the authority to use some of the government money to bring back Bingley Pool, which is estimated to cost £8.6m.

Bradford Council leader Stephen Place said it had paused the sale of Bingley Pool but the facility had "no role in the council's future sport and leisure strategy", with "no proposal to spend additional budget on it".

"There is currently no funding or route to funding to support the works needed to reopen and run the site," he said.

"Currently Bingley Pool would need in the region of £8.6m to restore it to a condition which it could operate - not to improve or regenerate the site, just getting it back to a basic pre-closure condition and have the doors back open.

"It would then also need money to run and maintain it, money which is not in the council's current budget."

In July, the authority's executive voted to scrap a £32m project for a new leisure centre on Squire Lane in Girlington.

According to documents shown to a Bradford Council meeting on Wednesday, the cancellation of the Squire Lane project left the authority with about £14.6m of decommitted Levelling Up funding.

Anna Dixon, Labour MP for Shipley, said she was "deeply disappointed" by the decision not to fund the pool but welcomed the pause on its sale.

"This political choice will mean future generations of children in Bingley and villages will miss out on local access to swimming facilities," she said.

"I am shocked the leader of the council is putting the entire burden on volunteers to solve a problem that his council has the resources to fix."

Independent Bingley East councillor Joe Wheatley said the pool, which closed in 2020 due to the Covid lockdowns, had the potential to make money for the authority.

"The Friends of Bingley Pool have outlined how it could be a revenue-positive asset, especially with interest from third parties such as Deep Green energy," he said.

Deep Green recycles heat created in data centres to heat buildings and has been used by Exmouth Leisure Centre to warm the water in its pool.

The firm has also announced plans to build a 5.6-megawatt data centre at the junction of Thornton Road and Listerhills Road.

Jeremy Thackray, chairman of the Friends of Bingley Pool, said he could not understand why the Levelling Up funding was not being used on the project.

"It's almost like having a huge amount of money down the sofa and you're ignoring it," he said.

"Bradford has that money. It has government approval. Anna Dixon MP has spoken to government ministers. They're happy for it to remain with Bradford, for Bradford to redistribute it.

"So all the information is saying it's there to be used. So until we hear otherwise, definitively, we're going to keep asking about it."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.