Tag: Campaign

Baths on track for April reopening?

This is the latest update we have from Cllr Mullaney about work to the building and the prospects for reopening this Spring.  A further update will go out soon about a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Update on Moseley Road baths – 26th February 2012.

Work on the final phase to get Moseley Road baths re-opened in April is well under way.

Followers of the present saga to get these historic baths re-opened will be aware of how much hair I’ve been pulling out over this issue. What started out as a six week closure in December 2010 for a simple lintel replacement,  escalated as health and safety found more and more issues to prevent its re-opening.

Each issue has been resolved and we are now on the final piece of work to remove all the flaky paint from the ceiling of Pool 2 and to replace all the stolen roof lead.

For more on the flaky paint issue, please read my blog report at http://martinmullaney.blogspot.com/2012/02/moseley-road-baths-re-opening-delayed.html

For more information on the stolen roof lead, please see my other blog report at http://martinmullaney.blogspot.com/2011/11/update-on-moseley-road-baths-19th.html

As you will see from the attached photos of the interior of Pool 2, the erection of the scaffolding is nearly complete. The scaffolding will be complete on Wednesday 29th February – one and a half weeks ahead of schedule.

Removal of the flaky paint using a special epoxy resin will begin straight away. A specially developed Dulux paint for use in a high humidity atmosphere will be applied. Flaky paint removal and repainting will take three weeks.

Removal of the scaffolding will then take 10 days.

Replacement of all stolen lead with a lead substitute will take place in parallel. Also, using the knowledge of the pools staff, efforts will be made to get rid of other roof leaks.

We estimate that all work will be complete by 4th April. The pools re-opening will then be based on how long it takes to refill the pool.

Our response to Labour Party Statement

Thank you all for your response to our campaign so far.  We’ve had an impressive response which really highlights how passionately the public feel about the building as a swimming facility!

The Labour Party has now contacted to us as a result of our most recent campaign, clarifying their position on Moseley Road Baths (full text here).  Whilst we welcome this, there are still a number of issues we feel have not been addressed (this is equally true of other political groups in the city and other councillors in the Hall Green Constituency).  We will be taking these up with local councillors and candidates and would urge others to continue to lobby.  You may wish to include some of these points in your own correspondence.

  1. Your position makes no mention of swimming.  Please can you clarify your position on Moseley Road Baths as a swimming facility?
  2. You tell us we need to ‘all engage constructively’ even though we are only just being given information about the Labour Party’s position in response to our campaign with an election looming.  We are a visible, vocal campaign group yet you have not engaged with us so far.  Given such an appalling track record of consulting with the public and engaging with The Friends of Moseley Road Baths, can you give us a concrete idea of what ‘engaging constructively’ looks like?  How will pool users and local residents be consulted and kept informed?
  3. The last Constituency meeting in January 2012 voted to draw up an options appraisal on the future of the building.  Surely deciding to put the Baths into Corporate control preempts this?  You have declared and voted on one thing in public yet intend to do something else.
  4. Moseley Road Baths are already ‘under central’ in terms of capital provision and refurbishment.   Provision of a swimming facility for the local community and its day-to-day running and maintenance are the responsibility of the constituency.  This is so for all the constituencies, together with an annual amount from centre towards these.  Refurbishment works are capital works and are already under the centre.
  5. Birmingham City Council does have a Heritage Strategy in place, (BCC Heritage Strategy 2007-12.pdf) , and a Heritage Steering Group, and an application for national Heritage Lottery funding is scheduled for Moseley Road Baths this April.  Will you commit to backing the HLF bid which is currently being developed?
  6. The running of Birmingham’s Sport and Leisure facilities is currently out to tender yet you make no mention of this in your statement.  How does this fit in with your position?
  7. You seem to want to put emphasis on the actions of the current administration.  We fail to see the value of this beyond party politics.  This is an unnecessary distraction and we refuse to be drawn into it.  We take the actions of political groups and councillors on their own merit.

Friends of Moseley Road Baths

20th February 2012

Labour Party statement on Moseley Road Baths

We have received the following statement from Labour Party candidate for Moseley and Kings Heath ward Lisa Trickett in response to your e-mails and letters.

Dear Friends

Like many of you, and as a once regular user of Moseley Road Baths I share your frustration at the continued closure of our local swimming pool. Along with the Labour Councillors on the Constituency Committee I support your campaign to secure a sustainable future for the Baths, which was exactly what officers were asked to explore at the last meeting of the Constituency   Committee.

The Committee also wanted to be advised why the current administration had not sought to make Moseley Road Baths a corporate priority which is seen to be the first step given that Constituency Committees do not have the powers or resources to deliver on such a significant asset.

We continue to urge the Council to take corporate responsibility, however, following representations from myself and Cllr Kennedy, I am delighted to be able to confirm that the Labour Group has now agreed that in the event of Labour taking control of the Council, the Baths would be made a corporate responsibility enabling the combined capabilities and resources of the Council, community and key stakeholders to be brought to bear in securing a future for the Baths.

At long last we have a potential opportunity to work together to deliver a positive outcome.  It is critical that we ensure that that we all engage constructively in the outcome we seek and together secure a sustainable future for Moseley Road Baths.  I along with my colleagues look forward to talking with you further.

Kind Regards
Lisa Trickett
Labour Candidate Moseley and Kings Heath Ward

Urgent campaign action!

E-mail

  • No more excuses!

  • No more delays!

  • We want to swim!

You may know that the re-opening of the Baths has recently been pushed back to the beginning of April 2012 for repainting of the ceiling (see latest update from Cllr Mullaney).  As Councillor Mullaney says, he has challenged the need to repaint the ceiling, “since from my perspective the baths have been closed long enough and this constant discovery by Health and Safety of yet another issue, just as we are about to re-open has to stop.”

There is a constituency meeting on the 20th March.  We need to send a message to the local councilors, loud and clear, that the pool must be re-opened.  We urge you to please:

  • add your voice and send a message to the local councillors (and/or to us)
  • get your friends and children to send their messages;
  • attend the meeting (see notes below).

Thanks for your support.

  • Messages can be in any format: signs, pictures, posters, cards, letters, photos, videos etc.  Please get them to us as soon as possible and by the 16th March at the latest.
  • Write your message to the Constituency Chairman, Councillor Kennedy, and send a copy to us.  We will present it at the meeting.
  • The Hall Green constituency meeting is at 7pm on Tuesday 20th March.  We will inform you of the venue once it has been confirmed (likely to be in Sparkbrook).

A few reactions to recent news…

Thanks so much for all your supportive comments in response to the reopening of the Baths being delayed once again. We thought that it was appropriate to share some of your thoughts – please do keep them coming via e-mail or using the comments section below. We know full well how passionate you all are about the building and swimming, but feel it’s important that we convey this to others as well. So, here are a selection of your comments:

  • This seems to be poor management again. Is it deliberate incompetence?  Perhaps officers should be personally liable for the results of ongoing neglect of this important building.
  • Perhaps ‘they’ should have the lost revenue from the Baths being closed stopped from their salaries
  • Sad to see the reopening date keeps going back (now April/May).  It’s as though any excuse (now flaking paint) to delay opening.
  • Councillor Kennedy asks does the pool sit as a sport or heritage site – I say it must sit as both.  Keep up the pressure on them. This building must not be allowed to close as a pool.
  • Labour Councillors want us to believe that lead paint was being used in 2004?  They must think we’re mugs!
  • Anyone fancy a sweepstake on next excuse for not opening the Moseley Rd baths. My moneys on a blown light bulb in reception.
  • Hmm, did they confirm which year? Let’s hope it’s 2012. This family needs to swim.
  • Thanks also to Moseley Shoals who sent us an e-mail outlining the impact the closure has had on their swimming club, making it nigh on impossible to swim as a club.

Of course, using this blog is nowhere near as effective as the public contacting the press and Councillors directly – follow this link for details of Councillors.  Hall Green Constituency Councillors will be voting on the options in March, so please address e-mails to them.  Cllr Tony Kennedy chairs the group and Cllr Martin Mullaney is the current Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport and Culture.

Latest update on closure of Moseley Road Baths

We have received the following update from Cllr Martin Mullaney, BCC Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport and Culture:

Update on Moseley Road Baths – 19th January 2012

The final phase of re-opening the baths began on Monday 16th January with contractors moving into the basement to begin work. They will be replacing temporary scaffolding that holds up the floor in numerous places, with permanent scaffolding. This work will take four to five weeks to complete and we are hoping that the baths should be able to re-open at the end of February.

What has confused the issue and the reason for the sudden announcement that the baths won’t re-open until April or May, is concern over flaking paint from the ceiling in Pool 2. Users of this pool prior to its closure in December 2010, will have noticed the flaking paint even then. It was particularly bad on the lower sections of the curved ceiling, on the right hand side as you entered the pool (see the photo here).

The pool was last painted in 2003 and the flaking paint was due to the very high humidity in the pool area, which was caused by the staff not turning on the mechanical ventilation fans whilst people were in the pool. The staff wouldn’t turn the fans on, because they were very noisy due to worn bearings. The bearings have now been replaced and hopefully such rapid flaking of the paint will not happen again.

Since the closure of the pool in December 2010 and the resulting dryer atmosphere, the paint flaking has accelerated to such an extent that officers in Hall Green constituency are concerned that flakes may fall into swimmers eyes. The staff in the pool have removed most of the flaking paint, but some still exists in the harder to reach parts of the ceiling.

To completely repaint the ceiling would cost £65,000 and take over six weeks to complete, thus taking the re-opening up until April or May. We have £80,000 ‘sticking plaster’ money which could fund this re-painting, however I would rather focus this money on fixing the roof of leaks – especially after all the recent lead thefts – and keep this building going until its big restoration in 2014.

Mindful that the pool has been closed for over a year and being quite familiar with the level of flaking, I have disputed the need to repaint the entire ceiling. As a result, I attended a meeting this morning with a Health and Safety officer to decide if the flaking paint was a concern. The officer said that the level of flaking is not of concern.

As a result of this, I have stressed to officers that the pool must re-open once the basement work is finished at the end of February. We will repaint the worse affected lower sections of the ceiling and this must be completed by the end of February. The rest of the £80,000 must be focused on the roof and again these roof works must not delay the
re-opening of the pool at the end of February.

Cllr. Mullaney’s website also carries a report of Tuesday’s Hall Green Constituency meeting.

And here’s a report from the Birmingham Post.

Baths reopening set for late February

‘Tis the season for good tidings, so it’s with heavy hearts that we have to share the news that Moseley Road Baths’ reopening has been put back once again until late February.  It’s now over a year since the Baths closed, supposedly for five weeks, and we’re desperate to get back in the pool!  The Hall Green Constituency has had no swimming provision at all in this period meaning that children and adults alike are missing out.  2012, the Olympic Year will see us desperately lobbying for basic provision – we hope that you can join us in that.

Here is an update from Cllr Mullaney

Update on Moseley Road baths –23rd December 2011 – Good and Bad news

There is good news and bad news with regards the re-opening of Moseley Road baths.

For some background, my last blog update was on 19th November and can be seen at http://martinmullaney.blogspot.com/2011/11/update-on-moseley-road-baths-19th.html

The bad news is that the re-opening date for the swimming baths has been pushed back by a month to the end of February 2012. This delay has been caused by the Council’s own bureaucratic procedures in releasing the money to do the next stage of work. Anyone who meets me over the Christmas period will notice various bald spots on my head, caused by me pulling my hair out over the last few weeks trying to get this money released. We are hoping to have this money signed off in the next week.

The basement is now clear of asbestos. If the report releasing the next stage of money is signed off next week, then the company installing the permanent structural scaffolding into the basement will move onto site on 16th January. Their work will take 4 to 5 weeks to complete.

The good news is that we will be having the Pool 2 ceiling repainted during this closure period. Anyone who used Pool 2 prior to its closure last December, will remember that the paint on the ceiling was badly flaking. This flaking was caused by the high humidity in the pool, which in turn was caused by the poor ventilation. When the pool is re-opened the ventilation will be significantly improved, since the mechanical issues in the ventilation fans have now been fixed. So hopefully, this flaking will not be a problem for a number of years.

By re-painting the pool now – and the money for this will hopefully be signed off next week – this will prevent the pool being closed later in the year due to the flakes falling off into the pool.

On track for January reopening

We have learnt from Pool staff that the scaffolding company are beginning to put scaffolding in the basement under Pool 2 this week. This work is estimated to take 5 weeks so it is anticipated that the building will reopen to the public for swimming at the end of January.

Happy 5th Birthday!

The Friends of Moseley Road Baths group is 5 years old! We were born at a public meeting attended by around 100 people, held at Moseley Road Methodist Church on Monday, November 27th 2006.

In an age when many people have such full work, family and social commitments it takes a lot to keep a community group such as ours going. Many well-intentioned organisations never make it to their fifth birthday, so it’s testament to those volunteers who give so freely of their time for a cause they feel passionately about that the group has made it this far and is still going strong. We’ve got a core of around a dozen regulars and others who get involved on a more ad hoc basis for events such as our annual Memories and Memorabilia Day, and conducting interviews for our Heritage Lottery Funded Pool of Memories project.

We have an excellent relationship with the staff at Moseley Road Baths, not least manager Kishor (Dave) Flora and have generally found the local media to be supportive of the building and increasingly aware of its historical importance, both locally and nationally. There have been many highlights during our first five years, but celebrating Moseley Road Baths’ 100th birthday in October 2007 with a visit from the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, establishing our online Virtual Tour and receiving a substantial grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to research the building’s history, interview past and present MRB users and help local schoolchildren make films about the baths and their social history, are perhaps amongst the most memorable.

We’ve met some amazing people, such as octogenarian Philip Morris, who came back to undertake a fundraising swim at the baths in 2009, the first time he’d returned since the mid-1930s! Howard Edwards and Doris Gamble (he played in dance bands at the baths, she taught youngsters to swim) are two more who come to mind, Then there are the others, such as Celia Reeves of Anderton Park School, Val and Bron from Balsall Heath Local History Society, and Ian Dungavell of The Victorian Society as well as our friends at the wonderful Victoria Baths in Manchester. None are regular Moseley Road Baths swimmers, but all are both passionate about the building and understanding of its vital importance as a community swimming pool. And a special mention for Played in Britain series editor Simon Inglis and long-term Moseley Road Baths campaigner Selina Stewart – without their enthusiasm that first meeting would never have taken place.

We must also mention Cllr. Martin Mullaney, Birmingham City Council Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport and Culture. Although the long-term future of Moseley Road Baths is not yet assured, Martin has proved to be a determined supporter of the baths and has battled sceptical colleagues who might have used the structural problems experienced at MRB this year as an excuse to close the building down for good.

Finally, and undoubtedly most important of all, are those Moseley Road Baths swimmers and bathers past and present who support our events, come on our tours, join our mailing list, follow our news on Facebook, Twitter and via our website, and who can’t wait for early 2012 when Moseley Road Baths once again re-opens for business.

The Friends of Moseley Road Baths will be holding a 5th Birthday/Christmas Party at the Old Moseley Arms in Tindal Street (off Edward Road), Balsall Heath from 8pm on Friday, December 9th 2011 – we hope to see as many of you there as possible.

Metal thieves stealing far more than lead

We’ve received this update from Cllr Mullaney about work to Moseley Road Baths.  It seems that despite the work to get the building back up and running that determined thieves have been working equally hard to steal lead and copper from the roof.  This is not only a case of stealing a bit of metal, it’s stealing our heritage and could potentially rob the entire community of the facility.  Please do look at the photos we’ve linked to, it’s truly galling.

Needless to say, if you hear or see anything then please shout up… anyhow, onto the update, copied from Cllr Mullaney’s blog.

——————-

There is good news and bad news with regards the re-opening of Moseley Road baths in mid to late January 2012.

For some background, my last blog update was on 1st November and can be seen at http://martinmullaney.blogspot.com/2011/11/update-on-moseley-road-baths-1-st.html

The good news is that we are still on target to re-open the swimming baths in mid to late January 2012. The company removing the asbestos in the basement, finished on Friday 18th November. There will now be two days of inspection and air testing for asbestos and if this is successful, work will begin on installing the permanent scaffolding in the basement – this will take 6 weeks to complete.

The bad news is that the roof of the baths is being visited by metal thieves on a nightly basis. I attach photos (links here, here, here and here) showing the damage they are causing, but as you can see they are doing the following:
a)    Stealing the lead flashing, which in turn will introduce large leaks into the roof infrastructure, causing more rot
b)    Displacing roof slates or putting their foot through roof sections, as they remove the lead flashing, which in turn is creating more roof leaks.
c)    Trying to remove the cooper lightning conductor at the base of the boiler house chimney. If they succeed is doing this, this could be catastrophic, since the chimney would explode if hit by a lighting bolt.

Stopping the metal thieves is proving difficult, since they come with ladders and are prepared to clamber over the roofs, putting their own lives at risk, to get to the metal they want.

We have met with English Heritage who have given us permission to replace all lead flashing with a substitute material called ‘turncoat’ stainless steel. This material looks like lead after weathering, but has the advantage of being very difficult to remove. Lead is soft and rips – perfect for the metal thief. Stainless steel is stiff, can be nailed in place and has to cut by hacksaw.

With the £80,000 for ‘sticking plaster’ works we has successful received from corporate finance, we will be replacing all lead flashing.

With regards the Heritage Lottery bid, we are aiming to put the bid in, in April 2012. However, I’m in discussions with Corporate Finance to understand what level of match funding the Council are willing to offer – this is a pre-requirement for any HLF submission.