OVER the issue of the lido, the people of our town have been asking if democracy has died in Wychavon.
It appears that it has and, perhaps, so has the lido in spite of the unanimous wishes, confirmed by the recent parish poll, that we want to retain it in its original form as a place to swim.
Wychavon District Council, if reports are to be believed, have told the town council that there will be no need for further planning consultation, or presumably consultation with residents, as the wet play area they intend to impose on the town is within the current planning consent.
They are determined to spend the government's money and our money on their project whether we like it or not.
This also means, as I understand it, that as their fish-shaped paddling pool is planned to fit over the same area now occupied by the current lido pool, and that they are going to destroy the pool and saltwater swimming forever.
The town did not vote for a paddling pool or even a shallower lido pool.
Wychavon have decided to put in their pool under the guise of increasing recreational opportunities. In fact they will, by denying too our increasing number of residents in and around the town the greater number of opportunities presented by a revitalised lido in the setting of the Lido Park.
At Briar Mill you cannot go swimming when you want as you need to have a schedule for the times it is available for public swimming.
Why not let Briar Mill be booked fully by organisations and let a revitalised lido provide for drop in recreational swimming and spa type treatments and make it again a tourist attraction?
Wychavon has said they do not wish to revive the old lido as it was a loss making proposition. Have they ever considered it was their lack of investment and management skills that made it loss making? On Saturday 16th July, the Times carried an article on the successes around the country of revitalised lidos at Cheltenham, Plymouth, Brighton, Cambridge, Stonehaven, Letchworth, London and Tooting Bec. Many of these obtained National Lottery funding which Wychavon say Droitwich's historic lido could not obtain, or are they just not prepared to try ?
John Armstrong
Westwood Close
Droitwich Spa
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