Councillors offered tepid support for plans to build a £7m lido in Abergavenny’s Bailey Park.

This week, Monmouthshire County Council confirmed it would recommend giving consent for Abergavenny Lido Group to plan fund-raising activities, and ‘establish the feasibility’ of building a new 50m outdoor pool, learner pool, changing facilities, cafe, and restaurant within Bailey Park.

During a presentation last October, the Abergavenny Lido Group met with councillors to outline plans and ask for the landowner’s permission, MCC, to get the project off the ground.

But MCC reiterated that financial support would be the remit of he fundraisers, and not the cash-strapped council, a point which a report due to be presented next week to the council's Strong Communities Select Committee, underscored.

“The group have acknowledged that the Council are unable to provide any revenue or capital support for this scheme and are developing their own financial strategies to fund build costs.”??The document states that the project reflects a ‘resurgence in the popularity of lidos’.

Abergavenny Lido Group, with this consent, can now research funding opportunities, and apply for grants to raise the expected £7m required.

The group said back in October it was not asking the council for money to build, or maintain, the proposed 50m outdoor pool but was looking for permission to apply for first-stage funding and feasibility studies, which the council has now granted.

The bid to build a lido at Abergavenny’s Bailey Park follows a campaign first born on social media page Abergavenny Voice.

Support for the idea was then backed by what ALG claims is a ‘resurgence’ in outdoor swimming, stoked by the record-breaking heat of summer of last year.

One example giving ballast to the idea is that of Lido Ponty, which reopened in Pontypridd in 2015 after closing for nearly 30 years. Lido Ponty cost an estimated £6.3m to completely refurbish, and is currently subsidised by Rhondda Cynon Taff Council.

Abergavenny’s original outdoor pool was built in 1938 and open during in the summer months only. Monmouth Borough Council closed it in the early 1980s. A town council and volunteer effort keep the pool open lasted a few years before it permanently closed.