'Lack of clarity' forces group to abandon lido bid

A community group has pulled out of the running to take over the lease of a bathing pool.

Love our Lido cited a "lack of clarity" on issues with the terms of the lease, planning concerns and under-funding as part of the reasoning for its decision on Havre des Pas in St Helier.

It added the proposed grant of £60,000 from the government would not be enough in its opinion to maintain the site safely, suggesting the figure should be closer to £200,000.

A Government of Jersey spokesperson said it could not comment until the tender process concluded. Jersey Business, who have been overseeing the tender process, has been asked for comment.

In an e-mail to Jersey Business, Love our Lido said it had not been provided with the data needed to inform decisions about how it would run the site.

It raised concerns with a number of areas, including grant funding from the government being "wholly insufficient" to maintain the pool.

Love our Lido said: "We feel this represents a significant lapse in the fiduciary responsibility that the government has for this site and will lead to degradation - and a risk to life."

It also said the lease terms were designed for a commercial operator rather than a charity and historic and current planning breaches at the site, which it described as "failings", were a factor.

While the group acknowledged some of these issues "could be overcome with time", it wrote previous experience of the tender process coupled with recent court proceedings meant it had "little faith" the issues would be resolved.

Closing its e-mail, the group said it had "grave fears" for the lido's funding plan, saying it would lead to the site "falling into disrepair" and become a danger to people who used it daily.