Council reverses plan to shut lido after outcry

A council has made a U-turn on its plan to close a lido in a seaside resort after community objections.

The executive of Teignbridge District Council in Devon voted in February not to reopen the lido in Teignmouth to save £74,000 a year, but campaigners said the site should remain open while arrangements were made to hand over the running of the site to the community.

The closure decision was "called in" by other councillors and reversed with the lido to now open for another year as the council works with groups on plans for the future.

Richard Keeling, leader of Teignbridge District Council, said the authority had "listened to public opinion".

He added: "We've looked at how we can do this and a group has come forward which is fantastic.

"We're now going to work with them to make sure they know the nuts and bolts of how it works at the lido.

"If everything works well, we'll hand over."

The Teignmouth Community Lido Trust said it wanted to take over running the site and more than 2,500 people had signed a petition to stop the lido's closure.

A former lifeguard said it would be a "criminal waste" for it to close, while one councillor urged his colleagues not to "hamstring the community".

The lido had reopened in May 2023 after being closed for three years for £800,000 of renovation work.

It was first launched in the 1970s and features a 25m (82ft) pool which is usually open from May to September.

Ahead of the vote, the council's executive was asked to "explore other solutions for how the lido site can be operated in 2026" and to look at the impact on people's health and the economy in coming to any decision.

Speaking after the decision, the council leader said the authority could not afford to run it and argued other pools had been successfully handed over to community groups.

"We're paying for it for this season so it enables one of those groups to take on the lido and run it for the Teignmouth residents to keep it alive," he said.

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