Peterborough council's investment into Regional Pool over a decade revealed in new figures

Peterborough’s Regional Pool is closed and condemned.

Last month, councillors agreed to demolish the 1970s building on Bishop’s Road.

It came after “high risk” reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, or RAAC, was found in the building.

Other issues were also identified, including structural cracking, out-of-date mechanical and electrical installations and damaged asbestos, which Peterborough City Council (PCC) said would take £26.3m to repair.

It has pledged to build a new pool, costing around £30m, rather than refurbishing the old one, which is planned for completion by 2028.

Council spent more than £200k on pool last year

In the last year, hundreds of thousands of pounds have been pumped into the Regional Pool, while a £1m temporary car park was established at the site.

In 2023/24, £104k was spent on asbestos works and fan motors at the Regional Pool before the building was instead resigned to decommissioning, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request shows.

This was the largest influx of capital investment the pool had received since the 2015/16 financial year, when other asbestos works were carried out and some new equipment was installed (pump, sensors, dampers, strainers) at a cost of £124k.

The last financial year was also the most expensive for inspections and testing in a decade: PCC spent more than £50,000 on this in 2023/24, while the average for 2014/15 to 2022/23 was around £30,000 a year.

In total, PCC spent just under £211k on investment into the pool, inspection and testing and repairs and maintenance in 2023/24.

It has also previously said it’s spent £275k in response to Legionella bacteria outbreaks.

£700k invested into pool over decade

The level of investment PCC has put into the Regional Pool has varied over the last decade, from nothing in 2017/18 to more than £300k in 2014/15 for a gym extension, changing room fitout, fire detection measures and improvements to heating, lighting, drainage and filters.

Between 2014 and 2024, £723,349 was invested into the pool in total, the figures show.

A further £355,430 was spent on maintenance and repairs and £328,434 on inspections and testing in this period (around £1.4m in total).

In recent years, the average annual cost of maintenance and repairs increased, from an average of £26k a year from 2015/16 to 202/21 to an average of £57k over the last three financial years.

Demolishing the pool could cost the council up to £2.5m, but it says this will be offset by how much the value of the land the pool’s built on increases and how much it will save on security and monitoring.