Several members of Friends of Moseley Road Baths recently met with Cllr. Mullaney (Cabinet member responsible for leisure facilities within Birmingham), and Steve Hollingsworth, (Assistant Director for Sport and Events) to discuss the need for urgent repairs and maintenance to the building. Here is the letter we have sent to Cllr. Mullaney, copying in local councillors, the local MP, key officers within the constituency and people within BCC with a remit to look at leisure facilities. We’ll be keeping all our supporters updated on our progress.
Dear Councillor Mullaney,
Following our meeting with Steve Hollingworth and yourself on the 17th August 2010 please find attached, as requested, an inventory of repairs and maintenance work needed at Moseley Road Baths. This list was prepared during an inspection of the building by the Friends of Moseley Road Baths on 8th July 2010.
You will notice that most of the repairs are routine, inexpensive and straightforward. They have become urgent due to long-term neglect.
With the autumn and winter months ahead it would seem imperative that issues relating to blockages, leakages and broken window panes are addressed as a matter of urgency as failure to do so will result in increased degradation of the building and a significantly increased repair bill in the longer term. For example, it would seem an extraordinary waste of money and a matter of neglect if the cleaning of the laundry room that was undertaken in December 2009, is so quickly undermined because of the missing windowpane and pigeons again getting in.
We appreciate and welcome the maintenance and cleaning work that has been undertaken at Moseley Road Baths during the last 12 months (e.g. clearance and cleaning of the laundry room, Men’s Second Class and Women’s ‘slipper’ Bath Departments and the re-grouting of Pool 2). However, we are concerned that the forthcoming transfer of powers and responsibilities from constituencies to the ‘centre’ may be used as a reason to delay the repairs which we have identified.
Yours sincerely
Russ Spring, Chairperson, Friends of Moseley Road Baths