Leisure centre and lido to get £2.7m boost in plan to ‘show them a bit of love’
Stratford Park was first opened to the public in 1935 with the lido being opened in 1936 as the only heated swimming pool in the district.
Last updated 1st Jul 2024
A Gloucestershire leisure centre and outdoor swimming pool is expected to have £2.7m spent on modernising it.
Stroud District Council is considering setting up a five-year capital repair budget for the site in Stratford Road, Stroud.
Their proposals include repairing the brickwork, roofing, decoration, doors and flooring at the leisure centre as well as upgrading the air conditioning system, lighting and external toilet block.
They also plan to repair the lido tank and replace its pre-Second World War plant as well as refurbishing the fixtures and fittings and making good all of the surrounding paving.
They also want to install metering to fully understand its operating costs. These works would be done in the first year and are estimated to cost almost £1.3m.
The council plans to spend hundreds of thousands on the leisure centre’s building fabric, mechanical and electrical features for the following four years as preventative maintenance.
Boilers and all heating plants were removed as part of the Second World War effort but the pool itself remains to this day in its post war configuration.
The pool itself is 50 yards long and fed entirely by a bore hole spring located within the park.
The pool’s mechanical plant also retains most of its post war fixtures and fittings which the council say until now have been gently persuaded into life each year for the summer seasons.
But at 88 years old the ‘opening’ process is becoming increasingly difficult each year with spare parts now unobtainable. The average life of a pool plant is 30 years.
The leisure centre was built and opened in 1975 and over the last 49 and has seen significant change and investment with an all-weather pitch added to the estate, award winning tennis courts installed and most recently significant investment in air source heat pumps and the removal of all natural gas dependence on site.
The District Council, and its predecessor bodies, has retained consistent ownership of the site since 1935, since 1992 the sport and leisure service has been managed by numerous private operators and contractors.
But last year the council resolved to bring the management of the facility back in house. And they commissioned a survey of the facility late last year with costed findings being received in early 2024.
The Lido facility is offered to the community at an annual net loss of £110,000. And the council is looking to invest in its maintenance.
They also say the leisure centre is an ageing facility as a whole and service development and modernisation with the aim of making an impactful change to the income at the centre will be the subject of future reports.
The community services and licensing committee agreed this week to recommend the investment to the strategy and resources committee to consider and then further recommend to council.
A friendly amendment was announced by Councillor Beki Aldam (G, Brimscombe and Thrupp) which asked for wider investment appraisal on the leisure estate for 2025. This was supported.
“It’s all a part of a plan to show a bit of love to the lido and Stratford Park Leisure Centre, it’s very deserving,” she said.
Cllr Steve Robinson (L, Nailsworth) said: “I fully supported the taking in house of the leisure centre. “All we are doing is what a landlord would have done,” she said.
“This work would have needed to have carried on. I fully support it, it’s very exciting and I look forward to the improvements.”
The council is expected to consider the proposals at their meeting next month.