The closure of the Northwest’s last remaining Victorian Turkish Baths took a step closer, as Carlisle City Council failed to rule out closing the City’s Grade II listed baths.
At the last meeting of the Council before elections for the new Cumberland Authority next week, Councillors heard a deputation from campaigners who want the Baths to stay open.
The Friends of Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths have been pressing senior councillors to act after it emerged the City Council had commissioned a feasibility study to look at alternative functions for the City’s Public and Turkish Baths at the start of 2021.
A Council report tabled in response to the deputation claimed that the lack of an operator, budget, and the demolition of the adjacent 1970s swimming pool, meant the Turkish Baths would have to close in September.
However, the Chair of the Friends of Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths, Julie Minns, told Councillors that the report was incorrect because the existing operator, GLL, had told a meeting of the Council’s Health and Wellbeing committee that they were open to continuing to run the Baths, and the Council Leader had told the same committee that money was not the issue.
In making the deputation Ms Minns also quoted extensively from survey reports on the pool demolition which found that pre-demolition work would only take a couple of days, and the demolition itself could take place while the Turkish Baths were open.
“Nothing in the survey states that the Turkish Baths must close in September. The only place where closure is said to be required is in the Council report before you.” Ms Minns told Councillors. “We therefore ask members to reject the September closure and ask why – when an operator is available, when budget is not the issue and when the contractors managing the demolition project state work can be carried out without affecting the operation of the Turkish Baths – why are you being asked to close them. And close them when there is no plan as to how or if they will ever reopen”.
Despite being pressed by Labour, Lib Dem, Green and Independent Councillors to rule out a September closure, the Executive Councillor for Heritage and Leisure, Stephen Higgs, would only commit to working with the Friends to see if the Turkish Baths can continue to operate.
Speaking after the meeting, Julie Minns said: “The ball is in Cllr Higgs’s court. If the Council Executive want the Turkish Baths to stay open, they need to organise a meeting with us, the project managers for the pools demolition and GLL as a matter of urgency, and get answers to all the questions the Council say they need answers to before deciding whether to keep the Baths open”.
The Council owned baths – one of only twelve remaining in the UK – are used by over 600 people a month and offer significant health and wellbeing benefits in a city with higher than the English average numbers of residents living with physical and mental health conditions
