Jubilee Pool: Devolution of a council asset

Funding for the European Regional Development Fund has been invested in a low carbon energy project to broaden the use of Penzance Jubilee Pool and contribute to the complex’s future sustainability.

Jubilee Pool is one of the most notable outdoor lidos in the UK, based in west Cornwall on the Penzance seafront. Jubilee Pool’s celebrated art deco style was designed in the early 1930s by Captain F Latham, the Borough Engineer and opened in May 1935, the year of King George V’s Silver Jubliee.

In line with the experience of many lidos Jubilee Pool had a rocky history, with visitor numbers in decline since the 1970s and significant sustained investment required to keep it going. In 1994 an upgrade was required and Friends of Jubilee Pool formed and worked with the district council to access a grant. But 20 years later the pool was again in need of refurbishment when massive storms in the winter of 2014 caused immense damage.

The extent of the storm damage, estimated at £3m worth of work raised the question of whether the pool was worth saving for Cornwall Council which was already struggling with the cost of running such an expensive asset. Friends of Jubilee Pool and the wider community lobbied for the future of the pool, for them an important community asset and a safe and affordable place for locals and visitors alike to swim.

Susan Stuart, owner of Chapel House in Penzance and chair of the board of Jubilee Pool says: “It was clear that in reality nobody wanted to see Jubilee Pool close but we needed to find a solution that meant it could be repaired and then in the long term could become more commercially viable.

“Coastal Communities Fund agreed to contribute to its repair, as did Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP, Penzance Town Council, Cornwall Council and access to flood funds, but it left us with a deficit of £160K. Friends of Jubilee Pool wanted to be taken seriously so we knew we need to raise serious cash. We launched a big community fundraising campaign, raising £120K towards the deficit.”

In 2016 following the refurbishment Jubilee Pool reopened, run by Cornwall Council’s leisure contractor, but a move for the community to take on the pool meant discussions were in place for devolution to be planned for spring 2017. During this time Friends of Jubilee Pool worked together with Cornwall and Penzance Town Councils as part of a Steering Group, supported by appropriate consultants to explore options for a sustainable future and to establish what a community owned company could look like. The geothermal project came into being and a Community Benefits Society was selected for the community entity.

In 2017, the operation of the pool was taken over by Jubilee Pool Penzance Limited devolving Jubilee Pool from the council and enabling it to be run for the community by the community. When the pool reopened for the first time since the storms in 2016, visitor numbers went from 26,000 to 40,000 with the increase in numbers attributed to both the level of publicity and the newly invested community. In the summer of 2017, visitor numbers held at 40,000. The board employed their own staff to run the café and ticket office, immediately saving £60K in overheads and just about broke even.

Susan says: “We had done a lot of work thinking about the future of the pool developing a business plan that had the potential to create a surplus. The seasonality of the pool was a considerable limitation so we started exploring the potential to use geothermal to heat a portion of the pool and allow us to run through the winter with a broader offering.

“In December 2017 we had a conditional grant offer which gave us the green light to start looking at a community share offer. By the end of 2018 we had raised the funding that allowed us to upgrade the facilities at the pool including £560K from 1387 community shareholders.”

A funding of £1.4m from the European Regional Development Fund enabled Geothermal Engineering Limited to start drilling a geothermal well, while the funds raised by Jubilee pool allowed for an upgraded café, now becoming a draw in its own right, as well as a community centre which will be used for treatments alongside the geothermal pool. The heated pool, planned to open in summer 2020 will be around 35 degrees in the winter and will be used to provide wellbeing mornings, health facilities for locals and wider activities to generate income such as biathlons and competitive events.

Susan says: “A huge amount of community engagement has enabled this entire project to happen, with the trigger point being the storm damage and the risk of losing the pool entirely.

“The process of taking on Jubilee Pool hasn’t been easy but the council supported us in creating a more commercial approach and we developed a board with the right mix of skillsets so we could operate commercially.

“The lack of capital at the beginning made it the most difficult and the devolution process should integrate a risk assessment to see whether a capital injection is needed at the outset to help communities get through the first couple of years.”