Chairman resigns over 'sad' lido row

Several members of a community advisory board, including the chairman, have resigned following a row with the local authority over £12.5m lido plans.

Matt Nicol, chairman of the Droitwich Spa Place Board, resigned last week and described the decision as a "really sad situation".

He left his role with five other board members, who had been advisers to Wychavon District Council and other bodies, in order to further improve the Worcestershire town.

Council leader Richard Morris said: "We appreciate not everyone will agree with every decision we have made. I'm genuinely saddened Matt Nicol has chosen to resign."

He added: "I enjoyed working with Matt and the team but while we have listened extensively to a wide range of views and taken feedback on board, we can't keep talking forever. We have a responsibility to deliver this investment."

But Nicol said he and the board believed the scheme had "changed too much".

He said: "At the very beginning we invested a lot of our money into a feasibility study for what could be done here.

"It went to public consultation, hugely supported by the public, which was amazing, but after the scheme [now] seems to have changed.

"It's changed too much and we've not been involved in the communication. It got to the point where they were going to push ahead with a scheme we could not support.

"Unfortunately, as the chairman, I felt as I couldn't support it. That its not for me to continue in the role."

The development, which has been allocated £12.5m worth of funding, has been scheduled to start as early as this autumn.

Included in the plans is a spa, shower and changing facilities, a new splash pad and an enhanced and safer entrance to the lido.

A council spokesperson said the overall vision for the lido had remained unchanged since a public consultation but "some elements of the scheme have been refined to control costs".

The main change has been the café, which will be increased in size but will stay in its current position, rather than relocate to the south end of the site as originally proposed.

Wychavon said moving the café would cost considerably more and could have a greater impact on rerouting utilities.

Concerns were also raised during the public consultation, including how accessible a relocated cafe would be for some people, given the distance from the car park.

Instead, a snack kiosk will be added to the south end of the site which will serve lido customers as well as users of the park.

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