Watch this space!

The future of the old swimming pool site in West St Leonards could be decided in a matter of weeks – a planning application for the Lido scheme was submitted in December and will be considered by the planning committee on 28 February.

West Marina Lido Ltd is seeking a seven-year lease of the site for, in the words of the application, the “formation of [a] new leisure facility comprising of restaurant, cafe, bar, sun decks, sea viewing tower, a separate block for changing/shower room facilities including a shop for water sports equipment, provision of customer and staff cycle storage, customer and disabled parking and peripheral landscape works to provide a community garden.”

The company is in talks with potential investors seeking funding of around £1.5 million, project manager Adam Daly told a public meeting attended by about 20 at the Marina Fountain pub last Saturday.

Construction costs would be kept low by using recycled shipping containers to form the buildings.

Also present at the public meeting were proponents of the alternative Platform proposal, which involves a natural bathing pool cum skating rink, a beach hut café and restaurant, bike hire and boat storage, a shop, an outside gym and children’s play area.

A small amount of low-cost housing, at least eight units, is also included to provide income for the scheme, La Verne Preston, chair of the Platform group, told HOT.

The notion of constructing the Lido facility from containers clearly grates with Ms Preston. “I feel we should have a more iconic building on that site,” she told the public meeting.

Signatures for a petition opposing the Lido scheme are now being collected by Ms Preston and other Platform adherents. A previous petition with the same aim gathered 534 signatures from residents in the area and was delivered to the council in December.

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