Labour MPs name on water corporations to avoid wasting Britain’s misplaced lidos | Swimming

Cooling, blue expanses of water have been a lifesaver for a lot of fortunate sufficient to dwell close to a lido in the course of the latest UK heatwave.

Now, a bunch of 20 MPs, together with the Fabian Society, are calling for this aid to be made accessible for all by getting water firms to fund the reopening of the nation’s misplaced lidos.

A brand new report from the thinktank has known as on Andy Burnham, who is predicted to change into the following prime minister, to make use of the forthcoming water invoice to make water firms accountable for funding locations for native folks to swim, corresponding to lidos.

Lidos, or public outside swimming pools, had been constructed throughout the UK within the Thirties. The lovely, usually artwork deco, constructions had been low-cost to go to and had been envisioned as a manner for everybody to maintain wholesome in the course of the summer time. But by the top of the Nineteen Eighties, practically two-thirds had been derelict or demolished. Where Britain had greater than 300 lidos within the Thirties, solely a few third had been nonetheless open in 1990.

Some are nonetheless closing down at present, and plenty of communities have fought to maintain their lidos open. For instance, the most important freshwater outside pool within the nation, Tooting Bec lido, was saved from closure within the Nineteen Nineties by the South London swimming membership, which took over the much less worthwhile winter administration of the pool.

The former Conservative cupboard minister Penny Mordaunt campaigned for years to get the Hillsea lido in her Portsmouth constituency renovated and opened to the general public, and memorably appeared on tv in a swimming costume for the competitors present Splash with a purpose to increase funds for it. The lido opened to the public this 12 months.

Andrew Pakes, the Labour MP for Peterborough, efficiently campaigned to maintain town’s lido open, after the council’s funds plans urged it might be mothballed.

He has began a marketing campaign group of Labour MPs with derelict or at-risk lidos of their constituencies. He stated: “Andy Burnham talks a lot about pride in place and this could therefore be a small but important part of his policy agenda.”

Pakes has change into an everyday swimmer within the Peterborough lido since changing into the MP in 2024. “My Peterborough lido turned 90 this year and was almost shut down two years ago, it was neglected for years,” he stated. “I helped to run a campaign to turn it around and it has flourished since then; 1,500 people used it on bank holiday Monday last week.”

The MPs are backing a brand new report by the Fabian Society, which units out methods to avoid wasting public outside swimming pools from extinction. The thinktank states: “They are more than outdoor swimming pools. The idea behind the architecture was that the factory worker, the coalminer, the office clerk, the apprentice, and the housewife had as much right to lounge on a sundeck or enjoy a swim in clean water as the aristocrat on an ocean liner or the stockbroker on a Monte Carlo beach.”

The report says that the invoice might comprise an obligation for water firms to “promote and facilitate public access to safe outdoor swimming” of their areas, and suggests the laws might be phrased to require firms to cooperate with native authorities to make sure a minimal provision of lidos per inhabitants or space. This might embody constructing a brand new lido, refurbishing an outdated one, or constructing or making a swimming lake.

Pakes stated: “Many councils have been left struggling to run our wonderful assets like lidos and public pools. This is a rallying call for us to get behind lidos. These pools are a testament for how we did it in the past and show how we can be ambitious to create new lidos and reopen derelict lidos.”

He stated the lido marketing campaign was being backed by MPs together with the Cabinet Office minister Anna Turley, who’s “interested in opening a lido in Redcar.”

Outdoor swimming in summer time is changing into more and more widespread because the local weather heats. The nation’s largest public swimming operator, Better, has confirmed the summer time of 2025 was the busiest it had ever seen for lidos and outside swim spots. Between June and August 2025, 542,998 swim visits had been recorded – up from 416,847 over the identical interval in 2024 – an increase of 30%.

Pakes stated: “Outdoor swimming is becoming much more important for everyone, with hotter summers we need people to have the public health and public benefit.”

The MPs campaigning to convey again their lidos

• Worthing MPs Beccy Cooper and Tom Rutland have been working to safe funding to revive and reopen the Grade II-listed seafront lido.

• Stroud Simon Opher is campaigning to repair and reopen the artwork deco lido, inbuilt 1937, which closed in 2025 after the council introduced it couldn’t afford the £5m refurbishment prices for the liner, pump, valves and pipework it had been suggested had been mandatory.

• Bishop Auckland Sam Rushworth backs the reopening of Stanhope lido.

• Peterborough Andrew Pakes has efficiently campaigned to avoid wasting his constituency lido, and has sponsored parliamentary debates to spotlight the broader significance of lidos.

• Ipswich Jack Abbott has championed efforts to revive the Broomhill lido. The pool has been closed since 2002, however after 20 years of campaigning, a £10m restoration (with nationwide lottery funding) is below manner and the lido goals to reopen the lido in 2026.