£60,000 grant will help Brixham pool campaign

This council is a friend to Brixham'

A council grant will help campaigners fighting to save Brixham’s Shoalstone swimming pool to save it from collapsing into the sea.

The £60,000 pledged by Torbay Council – alongside a similar amount from Brixham Town Council – will help the trustees of the seawater pool unlock grant aid towards their ambitious half-million-pound appeal.

Earlier this year they said time was running out for the landmark pool amid fears that one more fierce winter storm could destroy it forever.

The 53-metre pool first opened to the public in 1896, and generations of local families have taught their children to swim there. It is one of only a handful of similar seawater pools in the country.

But an engineers’ report confirmed that the north-western buttress of the pool was ‘compromised’ and, within the next five years or even sooner if there is another major storm, the whole structure could collapse.

In March, the pool’s trustees launched a fundraising campaign, saying at least half a million pounds is urgently needed to save what they call a unique part of the Unesco-recognised Torbay Geopark.

The engineers’ plan involves major reconstruction to replace the 1920s’ cement and to refix the north-west sea wall.

A report to Torbay Council’s cabinet committee recommended donating the £60,000, as long as the community interest company behind the pool succeeds in its bid for funding from the government.

Council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) said he is ‘delighted’ to make the grant and Cllr Nick Bye (Con, Wellswood) added: “This administration is a friend to Brixham, and we should celebrate that.

“Brixham has gone from strength to strength, and we want Brixham to carry on doing well.”