Hope fades for pool

Hopes that the St George’s Hydrotherapy Pool in Peterborough could be saved are fading after council leader Wayne Fitzgerald said no new options had been found.

Earlier this year the Peterborough Telegraph exclusively revealed Peterborough City Council was set to announce the facility was set to be ‘mothballed,’ saying it was financially unviable to keep it open.

The announcement came despite lengthy negotiations to sell the site to businessman and physiotherapist Ranjith Mahamani.

The pool has been closed since the COVID pandemic, and now looks to remain shut, despite campaigners calling for it to be saved.

A motion tabled at the Full Council meeting on Monday, May 23 called for Peterborough City Council’s leader and the cabinet to urgently examine all possible options for re-opening the St George's Hydrotherapy pool either permanently or temporarily pending alternatives becoming available. The motion gave hope to campaigners looking to save the facility.

However, leader cllr Fitzgerald has said no new options have become available.

He said: “So far there have been no new options presented / suggested or updates brought forward to the existing reports already prepared by officers for the last council meeting.

“Anyone is welcome to submit new ideas / options or make representations before the cabinet meeting on the 20th of June.”

A petition set up to save the pool gathered 769 signatures earlier this year.

Karen Oldale, from the Friends of St Georges, said the lack of new options was ‘worrying’. She said: “I am consulting with the service users’ group and putting together a written representation. This will take me some time.

"We also hope our petition, that was agreed by the service users’ group, will be discussed at the next Full Council meeting too.

“I think I speak for many when I say we find the current situation extremely worrying and exhausting.

"We continue to find the decision to mothball the pool, when there was a professional buyer in place who was willing to refurbish the pool, take on the costs, and run community sessions at affordable prices, incomprehensible.