Peterborough council leader says no answers on hydrotherapy pool until after election

The leader of Peterborough City Council has said a number of questions asked by opposition councillors over the collapsed sale of the St George’s Hydrotherapy Pool will not be answered this week.

All opposition councillors – apart from Mayor Steven Lane – signed a letter asking 16 questions about the sale of the pool last week – and asked council leader cllr Wayne Fitzgerald to answer them within five working days, ahead of Thursday’s election.

The 30 councillors, who represent a number of parties, had called for the questions to be answered within five working days of the letter being sent, on April 25. An extraordinary meeting of the city council has been set for May 23, but the opposition councillors said this was too late to hear the answers.

But today, cllr Fitzgerald said: “Officers are preparing a report for council on the 23rd - all questions and answers will come forward then.”

Last month the Peterborough Telegraph exclusively revealed that talks between Peterborough City Council and physiotherapist and businessman Ranjith Mahamani had broken down, with the council saying the pool would be mothballed instead.

Mr Mahamani said a fee for the pool had been agreed, and the sale was set to take place in April. Agreements had been put in place with the council to ensure the pool would continue to be accessible for the community. The agreement also included a stipulation that work would be done to improve the facilities on site.

Since the sale process was ended, Mr Mahamani and the council have said they disagree on the figures around the sale of the pool.

Questions asked by the opposition councillors have included why the council not explore the costings (estimated at £100k/£140k) during the initial negotiation process with the proposed developer; what are the actual costs to keep the pool open for the council; and How much money does the council need to spend on the property before it can be sold?

The decision to pull the plug on the sale caused anger and concern among pool users as well as opposition councillors.