Council has let Haslingden down with lack of support for the baths
AFTER five years of hard work, campaigners fighting to re-open Haslingden Baths have admitted defeat.
The task ahead of them was just too great.
A feature of local life in the town for decades will now presumably be sold off, and perhaps the best we can hope for is that Rossendale council ensures whatever happens there benefits the local community.
In many ways, the decision by campaigners was inevitable.
Dozens of people have fought – and worked – really hard to get the pool re-opened, but have been bedevilled by setbacks which ranged from buying new equipment through to repairing multiple vandal attacks.
Rossendale council leader Alyson Barnes describing the news as ‘sad to hear’ and that ‘getting such a project off the ground is extremely difficult’ is worthy of further examination.
Because the future of the pool was pretty much decided when Rossendale council, five years ago, chose to pull the funding for the pool – run by Rossendale Leisure Trust – despite pleas from local campaigners to work with them on a solution.
They didn’t have to close the pool. The council tried to link the closure to the funding cuts they were suffering from government.
While there’s no doubt the council has less money, the cash used to support was small in relation to its overall budget.
Certainly the money the council has had to spend on the Empty Homes Scandal – reported to be more than £5m – dwarfs that.
Indeed, the argument that the pool needed major upgrades didn’t stack up, because the council had secured a government loan to build a new pool in Haslingden.
It chose to spend that money on buying the Valley Centre, to make the Spinning Point project.
Being in charge is about making tough decisions of course, but also standing by those decisions.
Rossendale council chose to pull funding for the baths.
It chose to divert money meant for a new pool into something else.
It chose to shut the pool despite appeals from an established community group to keep working with them.
The council could have taken the project by the scruff of the neck and ensured the pool did re-open.
It chose not to, offering financial support in a ‘jam tomorrow’ way if certain criteria and tests were met.
The council has, in short, let Haslingden down.
In 2013, 50 people came together in Haslingden to try and keep the pool open.
They should have received far more help from the council than they did.
The council should have set about with a ‘let’s make this work’ attitude.
Instead, it felt as if they set about with a ‘oh, if we must’ mindset.
The council has helped the Whitaker Museum on to a more stable footing independently, and helped Haslingden Sports Centre become more popular thanks to its indoor climbing centre.
Both great for bringing visitors to the borough – but where was the same support for the baths?
The money meant for a new pool has been spent on paving the way for new development in Rawtenstall which, according to council finance reports, will raise additional income for the council, income which if there is any justice should be ring-fenced for use in Haslingden.
The councillors who backed the closure of the pool should take responsibility for their actions. Their insistence that the pool close quickly, rather than supporting volunteers properly from the off, sadly made last week’s announcement by volunteers inevitable.