Lido group hopes for council's backing ahead of meeting
Richard Crook of Active Fakenham hopes to get the support of the town council. - Credit: Matthew Usher
The man behind a campaign to bring a lido to Fakenham has reached out for backing from across the town.
Richard Crook, chairman for Active Fakenham, has written to Fakenham Town Council in the hopes of striking up a partnership as he fights to secure funding for the outdoor pool.
Mr Crook believes he needs the community's support to turn his vision into a reality.
“It is clear that an initiative of this kind will only succeed with the positive backing of the community, and Fakenham Town Council is an important part of this,” he said.
“We see it as an ongoing partnership in which each partner will play a valuable role.
“We do not see this as an exclusively Active Fakenham project.”
The letter was sent to the town council ahead of its extraordinary full council meeting, when councillors will report back from the steering group's discussions about the project on April 29.
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If the group is successful in securing funding it will carry out a feasibility study involving all partners.
File photot of Beccles Lido on a very warm and sunny day. Picture: James Bass - Credit: Eastern Daily Press © 2012
The group has called on Norfolk County Council and North Norfolk District Council to also be involved.
The town council meeting is set to take place over Zoom on May 6, at 6pm.
Its petition has accumulated 1,312 signatures.
He believes the pool would be a great benefit to the market town.
“We have a robust opportunity to provide major facilities for Fakenham which will include leisure, economic, wellbeing, jobs and training opportunities for the town and surrounding villages,” he said.
“We think this can be done with no ongoing cost and with minimal environmental damage.”
Mr Crook said he did not know how much the pool would cost to build, but thought it would be less than the £12.6m which is being spent on The Reef, the new leisure centre to replace Sheringham's Splash.
The petition can be found at change.org/p/north-norfolk-district-council-build-the-fakenham-lido
