Ilkley Pool and Lido is to benefit from additional funding approved this week by Bradford Council's Executive.
A total of £636,000 will be spent on works to maintain Ilkley Pool & Lido and three other Councils swimming pools: Eccleshill Pool, Shipley Pool, and Bowling Pool.
This is part of a wider £1.9m of investment in swimming pools, sport and leisure, museums and family hubs.
In Ilkley the most substantive items of expenditure are the removal and replacement of filter vessels, grouting of the swimming pools and inlet pipe replacement.
At the meeting Councillors also received an update on the progress being made in managing its finances.
As reported in January the Local Government Provisional Financial Settlement has seen Bradford’s core spending power increase by 47% from 24/25 to 28/29 – the biggest increase of metropolitan districts.
This additional money will mean the capitalisation direction required will be reduced from £570m to £395m. This means that whilst the Council will still have to borrow £78 million next year to support its revenue budget, this will be the final year of exceptional financial support because of the Council’s work to date in managing its finances and the new financial settlement from Government. Both of which together reduce the recovery period by two years. This also means council taxpayers will be saving an estimated £325 million in the cost of borrowing over a 20-year period because of the reduced capitalisation direction. The Council will also be able to invest in its previously much depleted reserves. There is still work to do in transforming services, but this means less council taxpayer money will be spent on debt and more can be spent on services in future years.
Council Leader Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe said:
“We’ve made good progress with the council’s finances. Like councils everywhere, we’ve had to make difficult decisions but this, combined with the local government settlement, will help us to deliver the district’s priorities and achieve financial stability two years earlier than planned but it won’t resolve the many years of underfunding overnight.
“We’re focussed on improving efficiency, innovating and transforming services, which means we are delivering better services for less money. We also know we need to spend and invest carefully to improve our services and ensure our buildings are safe and well maintained.”
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