Campaigners hoping to save Jacobs Wells Baths and turn the historic building into a community hub hit out angrily at Bristol City Council leaders for putting it up for sale. Cabinet members rubber-stamped plans to sell off the dilapidated property in Hotwells at a meeting on Tuesday (July 4) despite the fact a community asset transfer (CAT) process has not yet been completed, with two bidders in the running to take it over from the local authority.
Councillors were told it was “Bristol's last chance to do the right thing for the local community”. Deputy mayor Cllr Craig Cheney said it cost the council tens of thousands of pounds a month to maintain the former Victorian baths, used most recently as a dance studio for 35 years until its closure in 2016, and that “we just don’t have that money”.
He said the CAT process was “still being worked through”, following the deadline of Friday, June 30, for final submissions from community arts organisation Trinity Bristol and Bristol Historic Buildings. Trinity Bristol CEO Emma Harvey told the meeting that the decision to place the property on the open market, along with six other council-owned buildings or land, “jeopardises our connection to the past, erodes our present identity, and threatens the resilience of future communities”.
