Newbury lido opening delayed

The Newbury Lido opening has been delayed again.

And residents are taking to Newbury social media sites to give West Berkshire Council criticism over the poor communication and lack of information about it.

“It’s just ridiculous. It’s not fair on the children – failed promises,” wrote Andrea Bennett on Newbury Happening Now.

“There is nobody to tell you when it is going to open,” wrote Mark Ritchings on the same Facebook page.

“The people running it don’t know or won’t say and no one from WBC is saying anyting apart from the occassional fluffy YouTube video.”

The council had promised the lido, which has been undergoing a major refurb would be open in time for the summer holidays. But it is still not saying when.

And it has still not released details of entry costs or opening times.

The council says it “shares the disappointment of residents that the pool hasn’t been available for the whole of the summer holidays”.

“There have been some challenging teething problems that we did not want to exasperate and rush through a quick fix,” said Janine Lewis (Lib Dem, Tilehurst and Purley), executive member for leisure.

“However, our contractors must deliver a project that has been fully tested and is safe, unfortunately this requires so further works over the comings days.

“We’re working through this as quickly as we can and we appreciate your patience as we complete this necessary work.”

The council remains confident the lido will still open before the end of the summer holidays, adding it is carrying out safety checks.

It says the works will allow it to extend the outdoor swimming season to a period of six months, from April through to September – increasing the number of annual visits from 20,000 to 50,000.