Baths are put up for sale
QUESTION marks have been placed over a ‘low’ guide price after the council put a former swimming pool building on the market.
Rossendale council has put the Haslingden Baths building, on East Bank Avenue, up for informal tender through Taylor Weaver – asking for offers from £175,000.
It comes just weeks after campaigners finally threw in the towel on a five-year campaign to save the vandal-hit old baths, closed by the council in 2013, as we reported last month.
Haslingden Conservative councillor Granville Morris expressed concerns over the figure.
He said: “It’s threequarters of an acre. It seems to be a low starting point, we can only hope that those figures will increase.”
Coun Morris also questioned the council’s support for attempts to rescue the pool, and said he wanted proceeds from the sale ring-fenced for a pool facility to meet demand from swimmers.
He added: “There are well established community groups who have been supported and I’ve been critical of the council for supporting them and for not supporting, in this instance, the pool.
“I want a promise that the monies raised from that site will go towards some form of new pool, as promised originally. Marl Pits struggles to the degree that quite a lot of people have had to go out of the Valley to learn to swim.”
Taylor Weaver said the property, built in 1936, would be suitable for a number of uses - including leisure, residential development, a nursery or creche. In a statement, they said: “The property has been used as a swimming pool with associated leisure uses for a number of years under planning consent D2 (assembly and leisure). It is understood that other uses would be considered appropriate, subject to planning.”
A Rossendale council spokesperson said: “We were very supportive of Haslingden Pool Limited and it is sad the group’s plans couldn’t progress.
“But we are confident of getting a good price for the property with a scheme to regenerate the area. Residents can be assured the money will go towards benefitting the people of Haslingden.”
Interested parties are requested to submit their best and final offer by Friday, December 14.
The spokesperson added: “We will endeavour to make contact with those companies that previously showed interest in the building.”