Acton Residents Protest Swimming Baths Closure

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Petition with 2400 signatures delivered to the council to save pool

Acton Swimming Baths is now closed, indefinitely. A local group of residents, calling themselves the Friends of Acton Baths have been protesting this decision, and handed their final petition over to the council on Sunday 4 December at an event at the baths, on their final day of operation.

The council plans to demolish the baths, which originally opened in 1904, as part of their Town Hall regeneration plan, but have yet to even apply for planning permission for the pools' replacement. The Friends of Acton Baths were campaigning to keep the facility open at least until future plans were solidified, but were ultimately unsuccessful.

At an event on the day of the Baths' closure, the group handed their petition - signed by 2400 people - over to Councillor David Millican, in the hope of convincing the council of the people's love of the Acton Baths, and wish for the council to follow through with its promise to replace them.

Councillor Millican agreed with the protestors, saying "I was there to support them and told them how appalling it is that they are shutting Acton Baths ahead of planning permission being granted. Who knows what troubles they might encounter and what delays there might be?

The Council have acted in a high handed way, just bulldozing through their decision without properly listening to the genuine concerns of local residents and Acton Baths users. It took the council 5 months to publish the results of the consultations."

There are many reasons to mourn the closing of Acton Swimming Baths, but perhaps the best one is the pool's historic appearance in ActonW3.com's official favourite ever TV show, 1994's The Day Today:

Skip to 13:00 to hear the most heartfelt defence of the pool yet. Farewell, Acton Swimming Baths! It saddens us all to know that in while in 2010, no one died, in 2011, one pool died.

December 5, 2011