Coalition to explore how to keep Moseley Pool open

Cabinet will be asked to keep Moseley Road Pool open until 31 March 2018 – to give more time for community organizations to prepare plans for its future use.

A paper – Options for the future of Moseley Road Pool – will be discussed by cabinet on Tuesday 27 June 2017. It follows an appraisal on the future options for the pool, commissioned by the Moseley Road Baths Action Group and carried out by The National Trust and the Prince’s Regeneration Trust.

Birmingham City Council’s Deputy Leader, Cllr Ian Ward, said: “Moseley Road Pool is a Grade II listed building and the only Grade II pool still in operation as a public pool in the UK.  Unfortunately it has some serious structural issues and the costs of repair are exorbitant and out of the council’s reach.  We hope that by keeping the pool open for another nine months we can give the National Trust and other groups in the Coalition enough time to prepare plans for the pool’s future use.”

The National Trust’s view was that if the pool was to close, even for a short period, the cost of reopening would be significant due to the age of the building and in particular the pool tank and plant.

The Coalition includes Historic England, National Trust, Moseley Road Baths Action Group (MRBAG), the Friends of Moseley Road Bath, Civic and the World Monuments Fund.