HAVING sent Hereford’s LEA pool under, Herefordshire Council is ready to sell the South Wye site at “nominal cost”.

In 2009, the council closed the pool off Hollybush Walk, Hinton,  permanently given its serious structural defects.

There had been a long running campaign to keep the pool, where generations of county youngsters learned to swim, open.

The site sale has been signed off at cabinet level with the ideal buyer being a housing association or registered social landlord  looking to build an affordable housing scheme.

That “nominal cost” deal means the buyer must meet the cost of demolition.

The council says it cannot keep the site because the state of the building makes it unsafe to enter.

An open market sale is ruled out on the basis that the costs of remediation would reduce the value of the site to a “minimal figure” and lead to long delays in disposal with an unconditional sale unlikely.

Also unlikely is planning consent for a market disposal given parking constraints in the area.

Refurbishment is not an option with the pool regarded as “beyond economic repair” to the extent that it would be more effective to demolish and build new.

An estimated cost to bring the pool back into use is said to be around £5 million.

If the site is not disposed of, then the council expects to have to spend up to £60,000 over the next two years to make the site safe.

At a national level the Homes and Communities Agency is requiring local authorities and their development partners to maximise the range of resources available, including the release of local authority land.

The provision of the pool site, at a nominal cost, would represent a capital contribution from Herefordshire Council to enable the development.

Already, the council has interest from parties proposing up to six affordable housing units on the site.

A buyer will be selected by competitive tender.

The contract will require return of the site if development is not substantially complete within 12 months of transfer.

A restriction will be placed on the legal title, protecting the social housing requirement and ensuring that the accommodation will be allocated through Homepoint or any successor organisation.

In April 2009, the then council cabinet voted to close the pool permanently having heard it cost up to £500,000 to fully upgrade the pool to an operational standard, with no guarantee of a long-term life span.

Councillor Adrian Blackshaw, then cabinet member for economic development, said such spending would be like "investing in a black hole".

This economic argument effectively sunk a public campaign to keep the pool afloat.