New funding bid could help save diving platform

Hundreds of campaigners gathered at La Vallette in dismay last weekend when it looked like health and safety concerns would force the removal of the only diving platform left at the pools.

But Environment & Infrastructure president Lindsay de Sausmarez, who is heading a joint effort between the States and campaign leaders, is now more optimistic that ways will be found to make the improvements necessary to keep the facility open.

She said that talks with a small working group which includes Adrian Sarchet and Mark Torode, who led the protests against removing the platform, were progressing well.

‘While by no means certain, we are increasingly confident that we will be able to find a solution, especially following a very productive initial meeting with the group last week,’ she said.

Although E&I had defended the current arrangements at the pools and hoped to avoid a prohibition notice which was eventually issued by the Health & Safety Executive the week before last, Deputy de Sausmarez accepted that the risks it identified were ‘not completely baseless’ following safety incidents at the pools in recent years.

She said the HSE remained ‘open to reasonable suggestions’ during the current one-month extension to look at new options.

In addition, E&I members have agreed in the past few days to launch a new bid for funding to repair leaks in the walls of all three of the Victorian-era seawater pools.

E&I has asked officials to prepare the information necessary to make a swift funding request for Policy & Resources to use its delegated authority to approve a project certain to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds at least.

‘While the pools’ walls have been repointed out of E&I’s budget over the years, more substantive work is likely to be needed to address any leaks properly, and different techniques to carry this out are currently being considered,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.

‘Water levels in the pools tend to drop between tides, which is a frustration to swimmers, so this work can be justified in its own right.

‘But improving the water retention of the walls would also help to improve safety and therefore support the committee’s efforts to retain the diving platform and address safety concerns flagged by the HSE.’

Deputy de Sausmarez said that E&I had been unable to obtain adequate funding when it made a request in 2023.

But it decided to make a fresh bid following the public gathering in support of the bathing pools and also a hint of possible support for such a bid from P&R vice-president Heidi Soulsby at a Scrutiny public hearing.

‘One thing we did in the 2025 Budget was treat routine capital differently – we’ve put £25m. as a separate sum to deal with unforeseen events,’ said Deputy Soulsby.

‘It would be for E&I to come back and say the work it is planning to do.

‘We can look at it, but it might be something potentially for routine capital. We have to look at the details.’