16 December 2008

I would like to thank the hundreds of residents who supported my petition calling upon the City Council’s Cabinet to honour their pledge to rebuild Harborne Swimming Baths.

The City Council was forced to give a commitment to rebuild the baths following a long campaign, but questions remain as to when the rebuilding is likely to start and whether there is money available to pay for it.

The petition was presented to the Leader of the Council before the Cabinet Meeting held on 15 December, which considered proposals for the future of the pool.

Unfortunately, the decisions taken by the Cabinet at Monday’s meeting fail to provide a proper answer to these important questions.

On the plus side, the Cabinet has agreed in principle to rebuilding the Baths at their current Lordswood Road site and has set aside enough money to develop detailed plans for new swimming pools in Harborne and the City Centre, together with the refurbishment of an existing pool in the Stechford area.

However, the Cabinet has not identified sufficient money to pay for the construction of the new pools – in fact their own figures show that they need to find an extra £54 million in order to fund these projects.

The Cabinet’s decision falls some way short of what the people of Harborne expect and deserve. After years of waiting, we should by now have a fully costed and detailed timetable for the rebuilding of the Baths. Instead, we have a proposal to draw up more detailed plans, with no guarantee that the City Council has properly planned ahead to ensure that they have the additional money needed to pay for the promised swimming facilities in Harborne or elsewhere in Birmingham.

This simply is not good enough and is not acceptable. With your help, I will be continuing with my campaign to force the Council to deliver a proper plan for a new Harborne Baths.

Thank you for all your support to date. By keeping up the pressure, we will deliver the new facility that our area so desperately needs and deserves.