Jubilee Pool association joins fight against harbour development

1/5/09

Members of a voluntary organisation who over the last 20 years have helped to save and preserve one of Cornwall’s most celebrated buildings, the listed art deco Jubilee Pool in Penzance, have voted unanimously to actively campaign against the proposed Route Partnership scheme.

At their Annual General Meeting last week, The committee of The Friends of The Jubilee Pool agreed to work with other groups opposing the current scheme, including Penzance Civic Society and The Friends of Penzance Harbour in seeking a review of the preferred option currently being pursued by the Route Partnership scheme.

The listed Jubilee Pool is the proposed development’s nearest neighbour and if it goes ahead the Friends of The Jubilee Pool believe it will have a hugely detrimental effect on the immediate environment and the setting of the Pool itself.

Martin Nixon, Chair of The Friends commented “For several months I have been inundated with calls from concerned members of The Friends and others who love the pool.

“The Friends have serious reservations about the scheme in its current form on both design and environmental grounds. Furthermore given the construction methods proposed we have legitimate concerns about the how the structure of the pool, a fragile listed structure will be affected by the building process itself.

Friends were also disturbed to learn that if the scheme is given approval, St Anthony’s Garden car park, used predominantly by visitors to the pool, could be closed and requisitioned by the developers as a depot during the construction period. “this will have a devastating effect on the Pool’s operation over a two year period and there can be no doubt that the number of visitors will be significantly reduced”. Martin continued “At a Penzance Town Council Planning meeting last week the application was unanimously rejected and we trust that it will meet a similar fate at county level"

Membership secretary Randy Haunfelder added “The pool has been enjoyed by generations of local people and visitors alike and we often describe it as Penzance’s beach, but if this scheme is allowed to proceed a lorry park and freight terminal will be built next to one of our town’s major tourist attractions. This would simply not be allowed to happen next to say Porthminster Beach in St Ives, so why on earth is it happening here in Penzance?”

The Friends of Jubilee Pool web site