Council may ditch plan for school at derelict pool

Campaigners fear a former swimming baths could be sold off after a local authority looks set to abandon a plan to turn the building into an educational unit.

Flag Lane Baths in Crewe, Cheshire, opened to the public in 1937 and closed in 2016 after a new facility was built in the town centre.

The local authority had been due to demolish the building, except for its historical facade, and replace it with a site for pupils who have been excluded from mainstream school.

The plans were put on hold while the council waited for agreement and funding from the Department for Education (DfE).

At the end of last year, DfE announced a change in policy meaning free schools without a confirmed sponsor would not be progressing.

As the Flag Lane plans had a sponsor, the council was given the option to continue with the scheme using DfE funds to cover the cost of the build, but with the local authority having to pick up the bill for abnormal site costs.

Another option - which officers are advising councillors to proceed with - would be for the authority to accept a grant of almost £3.5m from the DfE over three years, but ditching plans to use the Flag Lane site.

"Accepting this additional capital grant from the DfE will enable us to work with our existing mainstream schools and alternative provision school to address demand for places in Cheshire East now, rather than waiting for a scheme that is potentially years in the future, or that may not happen," officers said.

James Bellis, who is involved in a campaign to reopen the building as a swimming pool, said they had been told in December the council would consider leasing the building to his group if plans for a school did not go ahead.

That position appeared to have changed more recently, he said, as conversations at a meeting earlier this year suggested it might instead be sold to the open market.

Bellis said: "We were told it would be a lease-to-ownership kind of deal originally, but they're a cash-strapped council, aren't they?"

The group would need about £5m to refurbish and reopen the baths in stages, he added, but this did not include the cost of purchasing the building.

The council has not publicly stated what its long-term plans would be for the building if the school proposals did not proceed.

Bellis said he expected the local authority to share more details after Monday's meeting and he might then seek to raise funds to buy it.

Additional reporting by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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