Moseley Road baths update – 11th November 2006

The Conservation Survey of Moseley Road Baths is now pulling together all its information and will be published at the end of December 2006.

This information will then be used to support a Heritage Lottery Bid in April 2007. The £1million spent on emergency works during Winter 2004/5 will be considered as match funding.

The Conservation Survey will be putting forward two options for consideration, namely
OPTION 1 - restore the baths back to how it original was, BUT bring it up to modern hygiene standards and disability access. This would involve the creation of modern changing rooms utilizing the former slipper baths rooms and the boiler house. The library would have a mezzanine floor installed at one. All repairs to the building would be done to a standard where little or no maintenance would be required on the building for 25 years
OPTION 2 – restore Pool 1 back to its original use as a swimming pool. Concert Pool 2 into a non-swimming use. As per option 1, the whole building would be brought up to modern hygiene standards and disability access. This would involve the creation of modern changing rooms either side of Pool 1 utilizing the former slipper baths rooms and the boiler house. The library would have a mezzanine floor installed at one. All repairs to the building would be done to a standard where little or no maintenance would be required on the building for 25 years

Cost of OPTION 1 - £17million, plus
Cost of OPTION 2 - £20million, plus

For both options there will be a financial plan produced showing how many people we can expect to use the building and how much it would cost to run annually.

There now needs to be a debate as to the way forward. This debate has already begun politically. For those interested in the future of the baths, please attend a public meeting on Monday 27th November, 7.30pm at Moseley Road Methodist Church, which is directly across the road from the baths. The objective of the meeting will be to create a Friends of Moseley Road Baths. Such a group is now vital and will be a major player in the future of these baths

For further details on the meeting contact:
Chris Crean - 07720 147330
Steve Beauchampé - 0121 744 2310
Simon Inglis - 020 7794 7474 / 07770 276370

My personal thoughts are that I would like to move forward with Option 1 – namely retain both pools, BUT I need to know if there is widespread public support for this option.

The consultants are recommending bidding for £5million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in April 2007, BUT they feel that we are only likely to succeed in getting HLF money if we go forward with Option 2 – namely close one of the two pools.

The next issue is whether the Council can afford the £12million or £15million required. This maybe possible if the restoration is done in phases, say over a 10year period. The Heritage Lottery Fund would expect a firm commitment to spend this money as part of HLF bid – otherwise they will ask for their money back if we fail to do any work promised.

There is a possible 3rd option, where we hold back of a Heritage Lottery Fund bid for about 12 –24months and in the meantime spend £1million to £2million on necessary repairs. For example buy new boilers for the building. The present boilers date from the 1950’s and could break down any minute. We would buy new boilers that have the capacity to cope with heating two pools.

Whilst this money is being spent, we would start to mount a campaign to persuade the Heritage Lottery Fund to support the retention of two pools….and go for a £10million bid – the involvement of our local MP’s would be crucial. This is where a strong Friends of Moseley Road Baths is required.

We also need to debate whether we want modern changing room facilities – or something simpler. At the back of my mind, I do have this fear that modernizing this building may destroy that special feeling you have of walking into a time capsule – again we need to debate this. This could reduce the cost significantly.