The campaign to save the historic Jacobs Wells Baths has taken a twist at the 11th hour after Bristol City Council placed it on a list of buildings it wants to sell off. Two bidders – community arts organisation Trinity Bristol and Bristol Historic Buildings – have until today (Friday, June 30) to submit proposals to breathe new life into the Grade II-listed property, which was used as a community and dance hub for 35 years until its closure in 2016.
But a report going to cabinet on Tuesday, July 4, includes the building with six others that the local authority intends to put on the open market. However, the report says: “The inclusion of Jacobs Wells Baths on this list does not preclude the Community Asset Transfer process (which runs until the end of June) concluding.”
The council put out a call in March for someone to restore the run-down property, two months after leisure group Fusion scrapped an £8million project to rejuvenate it as a leisure, dance, arts and community centre. In a blog post at the time, deputy mayor Cllr Craig Cheney (Labour, Hillfields) said Jacobs Wells Baths had been removed from the list of other council-owned buildings to be sold off, as the next steps were considered.
Read more: Desperate last bid to save historic Jacobs Wells Baths
But now it is back on there, and an update is expected at the meeting on Tuesday. Earlier this month, Trinity Bristol chief executive Emma Harvey said it hoped to transform the property, which opened in 1889 as Hotwells Public Baths, into a vibrant community and arts hub and said multiple stakeholders were ready to take it on.
The council has not accepted the proposal and granted both the organisation and Bristol Historic Buildings an extension until the end of June to submit revised plans. It said it was considering a “direct sale at a price below the value of the building” to either group, “factoring in social value; a long lease without any further risk or expense to the council; or any similar proposal that would achieve social benefits and preserve this property”.
The authority has said it can no longer afford the upkeep – the property requires extensive work, with the dancefloor having rotted and the roof needing repairs – including paying for ongoing security. Bristol City Council’s budget, set at full council in February, included proposals to generate £36million from selling off property it no longer needs, as well as saving £4million in running costs.
A report to next week’s cabinet said the sale of seven buildings surplus to requirements would bring in about £850,000. The other six properties are: land outside St Brendan’s Sixth Form College in Brislington, Fern Street Lock Up Garage in St Pauls, land at Wade Street, St Jude's, disused public toilets in Station Road, Shirehampton, Ujima House in Wilder Street, St Pauls, and land at Silbury Road, Ashton Vale.
The report said the inclusion of the St Brendan’s college land and Ujima House did not preclude current conversations about the sites and that they were listed to “enable next steps and progress”. Cabinet is also set to approve a separate list of buildings it hopes to turn into homes before selling on the open market, worth a total of £8million to £9million.
Sites which are already in the “pipeline” are: former St Peters Home in Horfield, 96-98 West Street, Bedminster, Marshall Walk (Inns Court) in Knowle West, former Filwood Cinema, Lockleaze police station, Cameron Centre in Lockleaze, Freshways (Treetops) in Lawrence Weston, Latimer Close, Brislington, Sea Mills community centre and library, Whitehall (Glencoyne Square), Southmead, 2-16 Filwood Broadway, Lanercost Road in Southmead, and Sea Mills Children’s Centre. Other sites at an earlier stage of appraisal are: 1 Downton Road, Filwood, Redfield House in Verrier Road, Redfield, 111 Capgrave Crescent, St Annes, 148 Rodbourne Road, Horfield, former community centre in Wordsworth Road, Horfield, Broomhill School House, Horfield Primary School House, former Southmead Youth Centre and former Southmead library.
