Arthur Hill pool: Campaigners want Reading Borough Council to reveal sale information

They are at loggerheads with Reading Borough Council (RBC) after the authority refused to disclose who the pool will be sold to or at what price.

An online petition has fetched more than 500 signatures since it was set up last week. It demands RBC reveal the information to the public.

Members of the Arthur Hill campaign fear the building, which was shut down after it fell into a state of disrepair, will be sold to a housing developer.

Peter Burt said: "This has now gone beyond a campaign to reopen a local swimming pool, and has become a campaign against secrecy and concealment by Reading Borough Council.

“Last year Reading Borough Council published proposals for housing development on the Arthur Hill site, and we fear that even though bids were submitted by commercial leisure operators to buy the pool and reopen it for public swimming, the council has sold the site to a property developer for demolition.

“The unnecessarily furtive behaviour over the sale of Arthur Hill pool can only give rise to suspicions that councillors are hiding behind council procedures in an attempt to evade criticism for making an unpopular decision.

“The council says it cannot reveal commercial information about sale of the pool, but guidance from the Information Commissioner states that public bodies should advise contractors that information they provide is liable to be placed in the public domain before any sale or contract is issued.  By not adopting this advice, the Council is following poor practice which increases the risks from fraud and corrupt practice.

“The local community has every right to know who has purchased the Arthur Hill site, what the new owner intends to use it for, and how much they paid for it, and councillors should be prepared to explain and justify the decision that they made on the sale of the pool”.

The petition can be found at: https://www.change.org/p/tell-us-who-has-bought-arthur-hill-swimming-pool