Mr Bean at the Swimming Pool
BIRMINGHAM’S newest swimming pool looks set to finally get the green light this week.
Planners are due to give approval for Harborne Swimming and Fitness Centre when they meet on Thursday.
The £12 million scheme has been nearly a decade in the making as residents and the city council argued over the details.
It will replace the existing baths in Lordswood Road which date back to 1923 and are in a poor state of repair and no longer meet Sport England standards.
They will close next February and be demolished the following month. Construction is due to start in June and be completed by the end of 2011.
The new baths will be the first swimming pool built from scratch in the city for more than 20 years.
They will be two-storey and have a 25-metre main pool and a smaller teaching pool. In addition they will have an adult fitness suite, a junior gym and a dance and aerobics studio.
There will also be a room available for community use, as well as small cafe, reception and wet and dry changing rooms.
The number of car parking spaces will be reduced from 35 to 13, but a survey found most users either walk or get there by bus.
However, there will be an arrangement with the neighbouring church to share its car park and also more cycle and motorbike spaces will be provided, along with a new dedicated coach bay.
A report to planners says the new baths will become an “iconic building” with a “green” environmentally-friendly roof and a glass frontage that will allow passers-by to see directly into the reception and adult fitness suite.
The hours of use will remain the same: 6am to 9.45pm Monday to Friday, 8am-4.30pm Saturdays and 7am-4.30pm on Sundays.
Harborne Baths is part of a £70 million package of swimming improvements the city council recently approved.
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