Councillors have given their enthusiastic support for a campaign to create an outdoor tidal pool in Scarborough.
The Scarborough Safe Sea Swimming Project has been endorsed by the Scarborough and Whitby Area Planning Committee at its meeting on Friday.
A feasibility study was presented to councillors, while campaigners who had initiated the project looked on from the public gallery above.
The study was commissioned by North Yorkshire Council and was completed by outdoor swimming specialists and RIBA Chartered Architects Studio Octopi.
It presented a plan for a three-sided pool at the Children’s Corner that would be open to the top of the beach, with sand running into the pool to create a fully accessible facility and a “very enjoyable sheltered beach and bathing area for children, all within proximity to the colonnade”.
The site at Children’s Corner, which is located just south of the busy town centre beach and adjacent to the historic Scarborough Spa, was agreed as the preferred site by the Scarborough Sea Swimming Community Interest Company (CIC) and NYC officers.
Speaking at the meeting, Coun Rich Maw said:
“This idea began in the simplest of ways – with a letter from two local sea swimmers who asked me, ‘How do we build a swimming pool?’ That one question has grown into a meaningful conversation, and now, the foundations of a community-led and deliverable plan.
“Scarborough’s South and North Bays are already loved by sea swimmers year-round. Cold-water swimming is growing rapidly in popularity and for good reason.
The health benefits are wide-ranging but, as we know, sea swimming also carries risks. Tides, currents, and cold-water shock make it inaccessible for many and potentially dangerous for some.”
Other committee members, including Coun Heather Phillips and Coun Roberta Swiers, also spoke in favour of the plan.
Coun Liz Colling, the chair of the committee, offered her best wishes to the campaigners who were in attendance in the chamber, followed by a round of applause in their honour from the assembled politicians.
According to All the Lidos, there are five other public outdoor swimming pools in Yorkshire, including at Alpamare Waterpark in Scarborough’s North Bay area.
The feasibility study has recommended the submission of a pre-planning application, “given the unique and rare nature of tidal pool projects”.
It added:
“Within any report for planning, emphasis will be placed on the benefits to society that are often overlooked due to capital cost. Highlighting the boost to the local economy, the benefits to the well-being of the community and increased opportunities to focus on innovative low-cost health measures such as social prescribing.”
Bude Sea Pool in Cornwall has an annual maintenance budget of around £20,000, it states.
The Scarborough Sea Swimming CIC will now work through the next stages of development, but the committee said it was eager to assist the group if it could.
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