Proposition could put Lido into community group’s hands

A DRAWN-OUT tender process for the Lido could come to an end in the States Assembly as a proposition seeks to give it to a community group to manage. Deputy David Warr, who is chair of the States’ Lido Steering Group, submitted a proposition asking the States to stop current negotiations and transfer the management and maintenance of the bathing pool to Love Our Lido. He is also asking for an annual baseline government contribution of £170,000 and an “operational partnership framework” between the government and Love Our Lido. This comes after years of dispute over the venue, which is managed by the government’s corporate landlord, Jersey Property Holdings. Deputy Warr claimed that the roof had “persistent” leaks, the stairs were slippery and unsafe, the paint was peeling, the toilets were poorly maintained, and the bins were overflowing. Broken glass had been found on-site and in the children’s pool, he added. Love Our Lido, set up as a company but claiming to want to become a charity, is backed by Jersey swimming legend Sally Minty-Gravett who serves as one of three governors for the group. They entered an expression of interest in the site at the end of last year. Love Our Lido had been given preferred bidder status, beating out one other bidder, but talks broke down when they refused to sign a lease in September over “cost uncertainties”. They had been told electricity cost £30,000 a year on average, and it wasn’t clear how costs were to be split. Love Our Lido lost their “preferred bidder” status on 29 September. In his report, Deputy Warr argued that Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham had publicly told protesters last year that he wanted the site to be managed by the community. The current lease was “flawed at inception”, he added, and the pools would be better off being given to a community-led body instead of let to a commercial operator. The community group would need £170,000, he said, as the government had spent on average £120,000 on the pool every year, plus £50,000 “major capital costs”.