By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
There are fears Stroud’s outdoor pool could be closed by a future unitary council if a full upgrade is not secured before local government reorganisation.
Civic chiefs have agreed to work together to carry out the essential fixes needed to make Stratford Park lido safe to open to the public this summer.
Stroud District Council chiefs went back on their original plan to not open the site this summer while efforts were undertaken to come up with a plan to implement an upgrade to secure its long-term future.
Modernisation plans for the pool which have been looked into by the council could cost from £5m to £10m.
They are now working to make the lido safe to open in the summer. But a comprehensive upgrade will still be needed to secure its long-term future, according to Ebley Mill chiefs.
This is seen as particularly important given that local government is being reorganised in Gloucestershire and the district council is expected to be merged with other districts and the County Council to form part of a new larger unitary.
Kathy O’Leary, Stroud District Council’s chief executive, explained why this poses a real risk to the future of the lido at the strategy and resources committee on April 16
If the extensive works needed are not secured before the council shake-up takes place it would be likely a unitary council would close the lido.
She said local government reorganisation was something they did not know until December 2024.
“It has been a very rapid journey into understanding what the future of councils in this area is going to be,” she said.
“What that means is that Stroud District Council doesn’t have a future, probably, beyond the next two years.
“What that means is, if we continue to just do basic repairs as the council, without exposing the full work that needs to be done for the lido, then when that asset is transferred to the new council, they would probably simply close it to save money.
“Because they would be in a difficult financial position too.”
Earlier in the meeing, she also explained the tricky financial situation the council finds itself in as the three year funding settlement the council will receive “has not been good” for Stroud district.
“We are regarded in rural county areas as being relatively affluent,” she said.
“So there has been a rebasing of quite a lot of that finance to urban areas and areas of greater deprivation than our own.
“That means our financial settlement is quite challenging.
“Just to put a fine point on it. Looking at the end of the three-year period that we’ve got.
“If we don’t do some significant work, if we have to survive beyond that three year point, we would need to make budget savings of £5.1m for every year that we survive beyond that.
“To put that into context. Our annual net budget for the council is £21m to £22m during that period so that’s a budget cut of about 25 per cent when we are looking at the end of that period.
“It’s not that simple because I accept the Government gave us a smoothing settlement for this first year so we are not too badly disadvantaged.
“They’ve capped the level of our reduction at 95 per cent of the reduction we should have got.
“But we are disadvantaged to that effect.”
Ms O’Leary also expressed her gratitude to all those who attended the meeting and said “we all agree that we want to achieve a sustainable future for the lido”.
A recent town meeting heard how the outdoor could be run in the future.
These options include the status quo with the District Council continuing to run it, that it is leased to an operator as was done previously, that it be transferred to the community or that a hybrid partnership is set up