| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Public Meeting re ACTON BATHS - Friday 10 July, 7.00 pm | |
| Posted by: | Eric Shanes | |
| Date/Time: | 15/07/09 17:24:00 |
| SAVE ACTON BATHS The meeting held at Acton Baths, Salisbury Street, Acton, on Friday 10 July was very successful. Over fifty-five people attended, as did six local councillors plus two officers from the London Borough of Ealing (LBE). After recounting the history of the Friends of Acton Baths (FAB) campaign in the 1980s -- which culminated in Ealing Council spending two-and-a-half million pounds on restoring the pools complex in 1990 -- the Chairman of the Friends group, Eric Shanes, introduced Lucy Taylor, the officer responsible to the London Borough of Ealing for the regeneration of Acton. She informed us that 82% of the people who made their views known recently in the Acton Regeneration public consultation voted to retain a swimming facility on the Salisbury Street site, while 83% of the voters stated that they would find it far easier to visit Salisbury Street than they would the two alternative sites. As a result, the council has opted to think seriously about locating any future swimming pool where it is most wanted. Next, Jonathan Kirby, the LBE officer responsible for developing any future swimming facilities in Acton, went through the options and problems concerning the regeneration of Acton Baths. In the course of that exposition he introduced Peter Simpson of S & P Architects, who has extensive experience both in creating new pools, and renovating old ones. He, too, found the regeneration of Acton baths problematic but upon questioning by another architect present (a Friend of Acton Baths who also happens to have vast experience in the field of swimming-pool design and construction), his arguments rather fell apart. Lastly, the meeting was addressed by the Director of the Victorian Society, Ian Dungavell, who firmly encouraged us to fight to save Acton Baths, on the grounds that it is a characterful period building that serves invaluable social, fitness and sporting purposes. Discussion was then opened to the floor. One person stressed that there is a fantastic sense of community at Acton Baths, which must be maintained, while virtually everyone present voted to keep the building in its present shape, albeit in refurbished and upgraded form. Another speaker drew attention to the immense flexibility that accrues from having two pools, so that both the public and schools can swim simultaneously without clashing, for example. And there was unanimity that the 32-metre and 21-metre lengths of the existing two pools are vastly preferable to the 25-metre and 16-metre pools that LBE has proposed to create in their place. At the end of the evening the single thought that dominated the minds of almost everyone present was: SAVE ACTON BATHS! After the meeting, the Director of the Victorian Society, Ian Dungavell, told the Chairman of FAB that he had never attended a save-an-old-swimming-pool meeting where everyone was so united in what they want. A gratifying number of people came forward at the end of the evening to volunteer their services on a new FAB committee. It is envisaged that a committee meeting will be held in mid-September, when everyone has returned from that shiver in the rain we all call 'holidays', with a public meeting following at the end of September, to which local Councillors, the council officers, the Press, and all interested parties will again be invited. WATCH THIS SPACE AND PLEASE TELL PEOPLE ABOUT OUR CAMPAIGN, WHICH CAN BE CONTACTED AT Friendsbaths@aol.com |