Closed hydrotherapy pool set to reopen as polling station in Peterborough

St George’s Hydrotherapy Pool is set to open to the public, for the first time in three years, as a polling station in May’s local elections.

The building, on Dogsthorpe Road, has been proposed as a polling station for the Park Ward to replace the Elm Tree Tavern on Garton End Road.

The pub was sold to Janish Homes in December and plans for seven new houses are currently being considered by council planning officers.

Park Ward is to elect two new representatives as Councillor Ikra Yasin’s seat is up for re-election and the fact that Labour Group Leader Shaz Nawaz announced his intention to resign as a councillor earlier this month.

Acting as a polling station on May 4 is set to be the first time the building has opened to the public the pool was controversially closed by the council last year, despite the protests of user groups and a number of councillors.

Currently, a trial of hydrotherapy provision is being held at Lime Academy in Orton Goldhay while the pool site is set to be handed over to the nearby Heltwate School to expand its site.

The move to use St George's as a polling station has been recommended by the returning officer and will be presented in a report to full council on Wednesday (February 20).

The other change that to be recommended is making the Eye Youth and Community Centre, next to the library, a polling station in place of the House of Feasts restaurant that closed last year.