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Page 2 of 5 With only two full-time staff (most Lido lifeguards at the time were part time or casual) London Fields Lido was easy to dispose of. Its eventual closure in 1988 was due to a severe lack of funds brought on by Government funding cuts to most councils. This was a period when many council swimming facilities up and down the country were finding difficulties with funding maintenance, basic overheads and staffing. (See facsimile of original council report Appendix A). To quote the LBH officers excuse in their 07/12/89 report, "The pool did not open in 1988 due to a shortage of staff available, triggered by excessively high vacancy levels in the indoor pools". While the outcome of this officers report was, "It is proposed that the pools and buildings be demolished and be put back to grass" and "The proposals in this report for the demolition are made in the present difficult financial position and the case for approving funding for the pool in future financial years will be difficult to justify against other projects providing an all year round facility". The council officers had produced a dismal, negative report, playing on all the existing weaknesses of this poorly maintained facility, with very low entry fee and its consequent low income. That was apart from all the youngsters who would "bunk in" over the wall. The London Fields User Group, in concern formed a Lido sub-committee. We produced an alternative report for the council showing how during the very short season of its opening the running costs are comparable with those of the other Hackney pools and how the community could pay a vital part in running the pool. By this time the larger, very popular and relatively close, Victoria Park Lido had been closed and bulldozed to make a car park. The London Fields User Group was furious at this report and started a campaign against the closure of the Lido. We found wide support for the campaign among the public and many of the councillors were canvassed for support. It was decided that we should write an alternative report to place before the full council. An alternative report was prepared by Mike Martin and eventually we agreed on a final draft. Permission was sought and granted to distribute our report to all the councillors and John Drummond one of our group was allowed 5 minutes to speak to the full council. John was later to become a councillor for Hackney. The council decided to halt any demolition and to call for a feasibility report. (See facsimile of our original report Appendix B). |
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