Baths rubble protest to council by families
Tuesday 30th March 2010, 11:30AM BST.
They watched as their beloved baths were torn down – and the residents of Coseley have locked horns once again with the people they hold responsible for their demise.
Armed with bags of rubble taken from the former leisure centre, campaigners who had fought in vain to save the building from the bulldozer flocked to confront members of the first North Dudley area committee since it was demolished.
Last night’s meeting descended at times into a slanging match between the panel and members of the public.
When councillors called for petitions to be submitted, a group of residents approached the authority’s leader, Councillor Anne Millward, and placed a bag of rubble on her table.
Among the campaigners was five-year-old Ethan Hollington, who was left “distraught” at the closure.
Ethan’s mother Sarah Hollington, handing over the rubble, said: “This is what Coseley has been reduced to.”
But when the group tried to hand over an ironic “congratulations” card to Councillor Tim Wright, he refused to accept it, telling them: “It is not a petition.”
Democratic services officer Joe Jablonski had earlier banned the Express & Star from taking photographs at the meeting at Lower Gornal Youth Centre.
Cabinet member for environment and leisure, Councillor David Stanley, was asked why the baths, in Pear Tree Lane, had not been mothballed until the council had enough money to replace its suspect roof.
Councillor Stanley said bosses had sought interest from backers who would have secured the future of the baths, but nobody was forthcoming.“It would have cost an awful lot of money to pay for security there if we had left it standing,” he added.
Coseley ward’s Councillor Sue Ridney said: “We are being told we need to make our lives healthier, to get rid of our excess weight, but in the north of the borough we don’t have the facilities.
“It has been a long bereavement period for the people of Coseley and I am sorry they have had their hearts broken.”
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After attending last nights shambles at the Dudley North Area meeting, once again we would express our disgust at our so called councillors who are supposed to represent us.We felt sorry for the new Police Inspector Richard Jones who attended, all he got from the ruling councillors(Tories) was it wasn,t their responsibility it was the police to deal with.
Also the Express & Star photographer was asked to leave the premises, has phots were not allowed.
Any questions that were asked regarding the baths were not answered , or lied about.
Why don,t they all do the community a favour and resign, don,t forget May will soon be here
and don,t expect any votes from us.
What a waste of good money being spent on these load of muppets.(Pity Gornal and Sedgley are not combined with Coseley, then our baths would never have been demolished.
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Well done Campaigners.
as for banning express and star photographs –
what are you frightened of dudley –
frightened of what people might Think ?
Just ask Coseley residents.
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The North Area committee should be ashamed,no explanation to the residents, who are Coseley people.
How can they ban the Express and Star? I have never heard of such attacks on press freedom in Dudley. A very sad day for anyone who cares about the people of Dudley.
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The majority of the Councillors who sit on this committee are not worthy to be there; they only serve their self interests and have no regard for the electorate who put them there in the first place. I have attended many NDAC meetings over the past year and my most vivid memory is the look of smug self satisfaction on these Councillors faces as they sat there. Both the chairman of the committee and the leader of the Council should resign immediately.
Also the democratic services officer Joe Jablonski should be called to account for banning the Express and Star photographer from the meeting. It was a public meeting after all, what are these people afraid of?
Isn’t it strange that at least two of these Councillors are on the board of Governors of Ellowes Hall School, incidentally the school which benefitted from the boiler that was removed from Coseley Swimming Pool?
Perhaps they thought that closing the pool in 2009 when there were no local elections taking place was the safest thing to do, how wrong they were.
Are they really worth the extra 25% increase in allowances they voted in for their selves?
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I promised not to Dudleybash !
Let me repeat that it is complete disgrace over Coseley and Brierley Hill baths in a country that has WON the Olympic Games and in a town claiming that obeisity is a top POLITICAL priority.
This message is coming from France today right by where the installations would have been built had France won the games.
In private I think that a lot of people here in France were glad they didn’t get the games.
FOR FINANCIAL REASONS !
When you see the salaries of certain civil servants and hospital managers in Dudley…..
I didn’t see much evidence of really voicing these sort of local problems during the meetings at King Edward VI in Stourbridge with Mssrs Cameron or Brown.
Or are we living a remake of Queen Victoria closing the curtains on her train when she used to go through the Black Country,the industrial pearl of her Empire?
The only consolation to the French is that the UK will probably end up like Greece after the games not that things are better in France.As for delinquency and weight-associated diseases in Dudley there is too much political blablabla.
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The people of Coseley should be very proud of their protests. What they did last night was wonderful. Don’t let the actions of these irresponsible councilors be forgotten. Ever. Keep their names in the public eye. A plaque of some sort should be erected with the names of those responsible for the destruction of the baths for all to see. As for banning E&S photographers, wow, Orwellian or what? Keep up the pressure people of Coseley, the baths may be gone but the people and spirit remain. Good luck.
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Thank you to all the people who have replied regarding the Dudley North Area Meeting.
Its nice to think that all the hard work we have been trying to do to keep the baths open has been appreciated.
I think that the idea what Mark Smith suggested would look very good on our wall of shame.
We have still got the Great Wall of China, and Coseley now have the Wall of Shame.
If anyone would like to add your comments to this wall please feel free to do so.
(Situated outside the baths.)
We must get these councillors out, and bring Coseley back to normality.
Our fight is only just beginning, so watch our space.
Campaigner and committee member.
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More on The Wall of Shame in this very newspaper:
http://www.expressandstar.com/pictures/2010/03/22/campaigners-say-farewell-to-baths
It now has its own Website where you can read all the contributions including the ones removed under cover of darkness before 5:45am on the morning of Monday, the 22nd of march:
Coseley Baths Wall of Shame, which also features Coseley Baths pictures, videos and is the hub for all things Save Coseley Baths on-line.
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More on The Wall of Shame in this very newspaper:
Campaigners say farewell to baths, Monday 22nd March 2010, 11:30AM GMT.
It now has its own Website where you can read all the contributions including the ones removed under cover of darkness before 5:45am on the morning of Monday, the 22nd of march:
Coseley Baths Wall of Shame, which also features Coseley Baths pictures, videos and is the hub for all things Save Coseley Baths on-line.
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The councillors stated that they couldnt mothball the building because of the excessive security costs it would incur! Well it had been closed for 5 months without any visable secuity there Each day and night I passed I saw no-one guarding the building and what damage occured?? None!!! except for the vandals wearing a Dudley council logo who had been instructed to rip out all the usable parts and take them elsewhere! Yet more whitewash from the Cabinet to hide a very bad decision
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How have Dudley council got the gall to say they cant afford to mothball the building when they have the money to spend around 1 million on 5 a side pitches and floodlit stadiums to be built at Ellows Hall School. This smacks of double standards All along the campaigners have said its because the baths stood in the wrong part of town and it seems they were correct. If only some of the members of the cabinet lived in Coseley and had a vested interest in the facilites there instead of having a vested interest elsewhere we would be reading a different story now I wager!
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Back in the 1970s I did a sponsored swim at Coseley Baths and, although I live in Warwickshire and not in the area, am saddened and extremely angry about what has happened here. Whilst the wanton destruction of these baths cannot now be undone, nevertheless, I urge those who did not want the baths closed and destroyed to show their appreciation to the ruling party on the council on election day.
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I live in Coseley a stone’s throw fron where the baths “stood”. I am angry that in the end the baths were bull-dozed extremely quickly. It seems the council must have been aware of the Tiptoner’s fight when their swimming baths was under threat. Obviously that battle was won and the baths had the necessary work done and they were re-opened. Dudley had obviously got everything in place so that the bulldozers went in before the building could be saved. My main concern though is WHY? What are the plans for that site? Are we going to be landed with something being built there that we do not want? More importantly are we going to be given plenty of warning so that any objections can be raised and dealt with fairly? Or will the folks of Coseley be bullied by the councillors again? All I do ask is that when it does come to light what the plans are, Please everyone in the Dudley Borough get behind Coseley with your support.
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Councillors have cut so many corners, broken so many rules, made up their own rules.
They have done what they want to get these baths closed, they have mocked and tried to restrict campaigners, they have even told people who worked at the pool if they have anything to do with the campaign they will loose overtime or even get fired.
The question is why??
Not money coz crystal looses over £900,000 per year,
WHY??? and why coseley
it cost more to demolish than repair and less money had been spent on the pool in 10 years
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the best solution I’ve heard is for the council to keep the land and use it for overflow parking for the train station until a time comes when they can find the funds or private investment to build another baths and gym – sports facility. The councillors know this is a possibility and owe it to the people of Dudley who have trouble trying to find a time to swim or use a gym (everytime I go its full to capacity or closed )but the question remains will they do this or will the prospect of earning money out of land far away from their own backyards be too much temptation for them!!!
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I will be brief, as my last comments here were removed.
Coseley baths seems to function as a political advert… yet another media hijacking with the same old blame and shame game from all sides. And the young and vulnerable and relatively ‘poor’ are the victims left without a pool, and without a voice of reason to speak for them, just like in Brierley Hill 2005.
It is my humble opinion that along with coseley baths, democracy itself has crumbled in the UK, it no longer functions as it should due to centralized control, I think.
This is not an isolated case, not at all, I am interested in this though because this case brings the utter contempt for ‘public opinion, and the will of the people’ into the light, where everyday people, children and grand parents, EVERYDAY PEOPLE… who seem to me to be ‘working class’ folk, those who often get the bum’ rap, no matter what political party is governing, or miss-governing. If the council behave like this on the closure of a baths, how do you think they operate in every other function of government? With fairness and equality? interested in DEBATE and feedback?
My advice is to ‘think for yourself and question everything, especially authority’
Build your own local community, never stop loving one another and make forgiveness a daily virtue.
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