Spa saga bubbling with resentment

by Bryony Jones
BBC News, Bath

Tripping across the cobblestones, a group of tourists stop to stare up at what should have been Bath's newest attractions.

The spa should have opened two-and-a-half years ago

Had it been completed on schedule, this place would almost certainly have featured on any visitor's must-see list.

But two-and-a-half years on from its original opening date, Bath's thermal spa is still closed to all but the builders.

The attraction - once heralded as Bath's answer to the Eden Project - is instead lambasted as the city's own Millennium Dome.

Delay after delay has meant the final cost of the scheme has rocketed, almost trebling from an original estimate of £13m to £35m - all without an opening date in sight.

Now developer Mowlem has offered beleaguered Bath and North East Somerset Council a way out, volunteering to take over the design and build of the whole spa for what is beginning to sound like a bargain price of £26m all in.

And to top it all they claim they will at long last have the place open to the public within six months.

It sounds too good to be true, especially as outside in the street, workmen are still digging up bits of pavement.

Building site

Around the corner there's another sign that things are not as they should be - several of the huge - and hugely expensive - plate glass panels that make up two walls of the building have been smashed by vandals.

And inside it is the same story - hints of the expense, even the glamour of this project, undermined by the awkward fact that this place is - despite the swanky fixtures and fittings - little more than a costly building site.

The lobby should be dominated by an eyecatching aquatic item, a huge sheet of blue water cascading down the wall.

The stone floor of the pool areas has had to be pulled up

Instead all that strikes any would-be visitor is the swathe of bubble wrap and chipboard which protects the glass foundations of this feature from passing powertools and pots of paint.

It's all a far cry from the situation 18 months ago when the Three Tenors were in town for the spa's official "opening ceremony".

Back in August 2003, Domingo, Carreras and Pavarotti stood on the roof terrace admiring the open-air pool before strolling across to the city's Victoria Park for a spectacular concert designed to celebrate the spa.

Fast forward to today, and it has all changed.

The open air pool, which back then looked just about ready for the opera heavyweights to take a dip, has been emptied of water.

It is no longer open to the skies - instead scaffolding, corrugated metal sheets and plastic wrapping protect the pool from the elements.

And the city's residents - who are paying a huge portion of the money required to get the spa up and running - certainly do not feel like celebrating.

'Denied access'

Indeed when local MPs Dan Norris and Don Foster brought construction minister Nigel Griffiths along for a look on Monday, a group of them heckled and jeered from a nearby office window.

"You lot have got nothing to smile about," chimed in one onlooker. "The people of Bath have a right to access the spa's waters and we are being denied that right."

See more pictures of the spa

And despite the unruly manner of their protests - yelled across the rooftops - it seems Mr Griffiths, at least, agrees with them.

"This is a project which is three years over time, three years over budget and I am shocked at the state of it.

"We are standing in a building site, not in a building which is nearing completion - we have gone backwards not forwards."

The minister has some harsh words for the local council at the heart of the saga - which he labels as among the most incompetent in the country.

"They have received an offer from the contractors which will put a final date, a timescale on the project and yet they are still dithering - they must make a decision.

"This situation is damaging the city - I have heard that some tourists aren't coming here because they think the whole of Bath is closed.

"Many of Bath's other attractions are being tarnished by this fiasco."

But council leader Paul Crossley is not about to jump at Mowlem's offer.

"We are in correspondence with Mowlem, but these are difficult contractual negotiations - we cannot conduct them through the press.

"I am as angry as anyone that the building is not open yet."

In a statement, the council added: "We believe in assembling all the facts before we issue instructions or take actions."