London Fields Lido: ‘Substandard finish’ means pool remains closed
London Fields Lido. Photograph: Peter Smith (Wikicommons)
An “incredibly frustrated” Hackney Council has announced that London Fields Lido will remain closed until contractors have finished the refurbishment to an “acceptable standard”.
The Town Hall said that while the pool may appear to be ready for swimming, the entire facility “needs to be completely safe”.
Contractors have completed the “substantive work” of replacing the screed, render and tiles within the pool itself.
But the council says the poolside area finish is “substandard”, and that the Lido will not open until this is fixed – which means “clean, smooth and level surfaces”.
Community chief Cllr Jon Burke said: “We are incredibly frustrated and very disappointed by this latest delay and will provide another update when we are confident that the work will be completed to the required standard.
“The contractor is working through a series of defects to agreed deadlines – we need to be 100 per cent certain that these will be met before announcing an opening date.”
Could this be a re-run of the Clissold Leisure Centre fiasco? Not good with an election coming up; might cost the Labour Party votes. Perhaps they should have used heritage marble, like they did on the Town Hall at a cost of £548,720 (looks very repro, but hey ho, Jules Pipe likes it).
Jules has moved on. the chances of Tories winning a local election in Hackney are slim to none what ever the actions of the Council It is also important to note that officers of the council and not representatives of labour are responsible for refurbishment works….
It was not mainly the Tories that picked up votes over the Clissold Leisure Centre debacle. And Labour representatives are ultimately responsible for refurbishments as for all other council spending, as it all gets signed off by elected representatives.