Sign here, please: Save Haggerston Baths campaigners launch petition
Haggerston Baths. Photograph: The Victorian Society
Campaigners hoping to reopen derelict Haggerston Baths have launched a petition calling on Hackney Council to list the building as an “asset of community value”.
If the Grade-II listed Victorian-era pool is listed it would allow local residents to put in a bid to buy it themselves and ‘pause’ any sale of the land to developers.
The council says financial pressure means it has no plans to reopen the pool at present.
Last year building conservation group The Victorian Society named the pool on Whiston Road as one of the 10 most endangered buildings in England and Wales.
Related:
Is lifeline on horizon for Victorian landmark Haggerston Baths?
It is essential to maintain the unique character of the east end to protect building’s like this from being demolished and replaced with market driven developments. Which are almost always bland and deviod of character.
It would be most helpful if the article could actually provide a link to the petition, which you can find here: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/haggerston-pool-supporter-network-support-the-application-for-haggerston-pool-to-become-an-asset-of-community-value-an-important-step-on-the-road-to-saving-haggerston-pool
where is the petition?
Where do I sign?
The East End is losing so much of its heritage, which will have the inevitable knock-on effect that it will lose its sense of community and of its continuity. The East End is not up for grabs: it is a real place, with real history and a real identity.
What the ‘eff, Hackney Citizen? I provide a link to the petition in my previous comment and some two hours later the response is still awaiting moderation?
For those who wish to sign the petition, you can find it by googling “Haggerston Baths community petition” and choosing the third link.
@Jake – Apologies for the delay, we are going to press this evening. – Ed.
Hope this counts as a signature.
This beautiful old building must be saved and cared for.
I sincerely hope my signature counts. Already we have seen too much destruction of our beautiful buildings which can be used still .They were built with aesthetic and public use at the very core of it’s design .Look at the unique masonry, what craftsmanship,what skill, not only were they builders they were also artists both builder and architect . Wouldn’t it be vandalism at it’s most pernicious to destroy a once most used public building ? I
The Haggerston Bath is an endangered historical treasure and a public structure whose current condition has been preserved to such a state as to make it an easy and viable target for upscale re-use development; as such a hotel or luxury flats. The £25 mil required for the conversion will be quickly recouped to BNP Paribus development and its partners, with the inflated value of the units that will be constructed. However, looking at the larger picture and into the future, 250 years; £25 million is a small expenditure for BNP Paribus, considering the high return on an investment such as this. And the fact that BNP Paribus isn’t at all interested in Haggerston as a community, they’re interested in this building that happens to be in Haggerston, with high yielding profits and the added bonus of being of significant historical aesthetic appeal. For BNP Paribus and their investors, the facade of The Baths will be sustained. However, the function of its interior will serve no purpose to the core of the already established community. One that has been struggling to maintain and further the cause of the importance The Haggerston Baths, along with The Victorian Society for the past decade.
The need to maintain the – public use of a public building aspect – needs to be stressed in this case, as well as its value to the community. Which has fallen into non-use as a result of incessant budget cuts. However, there has been great enough significance and importance to the preservation of The Baths, in that £100,000 per year, for the past 15 years has already been expended on it. Thus keeping it in the condition whereas any real damage is only superficial.
The value to the community will be greater served, as already has been campaigned by the Haggerston Pools Trust, in continuing to allow The Baths, to do just that, serving the Haggerston community and letting its residents determine its fate by ceasing ownership and therefore control of its fate: to use it as a multi-functional facility, filling the needs of Haggerston in areas that are currently lacking but essential. Areas which will truly benefit the community as a whole; which is more than a “good idea” its a brilliant one.
We owe it to our children and local community to provide appropriate facilities for them to learn to swim. We need Haggerston to be restored to its former glory. We need more pools in London not less.
Did anyone ever apply to have this listed as a Community Asset? Its not listed on Hackney’s pages as having either been refused or granted?
Paribas’s website for sales interest has now closed so I don’t know whether its all too late?