Our Freedom Of Information request regarding the decision and the work to demolish St George’s Community Hydrotherapy Pool

Your request for information, reference number SUP-202309000758, has now been considered and the information requested is given below.

Supplementary Request & Response

Dear Freedom of Information team,

Please can you:

1. Give all the dates on which the demolition work took place.

The works commenced in August 2022 and were completed in June 2023, broken down as follows:

29/07/2022 – Drain down pool for decommissioning.

09/08/2022 – Strip out boiler room boilers. pumps, calorifier, filter and pipework, including pool plant.

12/09/22 – Asbestos survey

23/11/22 – Asbestos removal

23/22/22 – Isolate all power to the plant room.

18/01/2022 Patch repair holes in roof following removal of boiler flues

02/06/2023 – Break out pool

2. Supply all the recorded information (emails, contracts, studies etc) that relate to the instructions to demolish St George’s Community Hydrotherapy Pool.

No written instructions - Head of Service verbally instructed Aragon via telephone following the cabinet decision. A further verbal instruction followed in late May / June to remove pool base in preparation for site handover.

3. Provide the name of the person who was ultimately responsible for deciding that demolition work should be begin before an application and permission been granted for change of use.

The decision to close the Pool was made by the Cabinet in July 2022. The then Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council subsequently requested that the pool be fully decommissioned in order to ensure that the decision not to reopen could be properly actioned.

4. Give the company name(s) of the contractors who carried the demolition work.

Aragon Direct Services

5. Provide a copy of the feasibility report that was requested by the Service Director for Education for St George's Community Hydrotherapy Pool to be converted for use by Heltwate School.

Please refer to the attachment provided for the feasibility report.

Please note in order to supply this information we have had to apply redaction as the information is considered exempt.

The exemption applied is Section 43 – commercial interests. This exemption applies because the information requested is commercially sensitive information, the release of which would be likely to prejudice the council’s commercial interests

The public interest test has been applied, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The council understands that there is merit in releasing as much information as possible in order to assist public understanding of how public funds are being spent. In this case, the council considers that protecting commercial confidentiality ensures that the council achieves best value and outcome for the residents of the city, and therefore protects public funds

We have therefore concluded that it is not in the public interest to release the requested information.

6. Please can you supply all the relevant documentation that relates to the cost of this demolition work.

No hard documentation is held. Total cost for work £16,705.21 plus VAT

Supplementary Note

Not included in the FOI request reply (feasability study) but public Cabinet papers for 13.11.23 showed the estimated cost of the conversion of the pool into a classroom will be £500,000.

News Coverage:

21st November

CambsNews https://www.cambsnews.co.uk/news/freedom-of-information-throws-light-on-16700-cost-to-demolish-much-loved-peterborough-hydrotherapy-pool/17643/

22nd November

Peterborough Telegraph https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/politics/cost-for-destruction-of-peterboroughs-st-georges-hydrotherapy-pool-revealed-4417759

23rd November

BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67499838