The Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare's council-owned, iconic open air pool and leisure complex faces demolition following an independent report showing redevelopment of the site is not viable in the current economic climate.
The report, by DTZ, concludes that “this soft market exercise has not delivered sufficient evidence of any clearly viable and deliverable 'limited form' of development that would enable the council to proceed with further discussions".
A cross-party Tropicana Working Group is recommending the council’s Executive to approve demolition of the semi-derelict building when it meets on December 13.
Cllr Elfan Ap Rees, the council’s Deputy Leader and chairman of the Tropicana Working Group, said: "I had hoped that a serious commercial developer would have come forward at the last minute with a deliverable scheme. I and everyone else were obviously over-optimistic. However, I would like to think that, if the economy recovers, developers might see this part of the seafront as an ideal spot for a future leisure attraction, with the advantage of being able to start with a clean sheet of paper and fresh ideas. If so, I hope we remain open to do business."
Cllr Tony Lake, the executive member for asset management, said: “This is not the outcome that any of us would have wished for but it is one we must accept. If a commercial developer was serious about the site, it would have happened by now. The reality is that successive council administrations of various colours have tried to bring about the regeneration of the Tropicana over the last 11 years, and none have succeeded.
"Continuing deterioration of the site means that it is now becoming a safety risk and it is likely that the Executive will now have to go ahead with the decision to demolish when it meets next month. If so, I hope work will start to remove the building early in 2012, with a view to opening up the area to beach before the summer season."
The site was built as an open-air pool in 1937, and became the Tropicana in 1983. It was run by the council (then Woodspring) until 1992 and then contracted out from 1993 to 2000. The pool closed to the public in September 2000. In 1999 MACE were chosen as the preferred developer of the site and were granted planning permission in 2003 for a leisure pool and family entertainment centre but pulled out in 2004. In June 2005, councillors voted in favour of the Henry Boot scheme to redevelop the site as ‘Lifestation@Tropicana’. The council resolved to grant planning permission for this mixed leisure pool, cinema, shopping and hotel development in 2008.
Henry Boot subsequently withdrew its interest in the site in November 2009 following changes in European law coupled with the deteriorating economic climate.
The council remarketed the site in 2010 with requirements for any development to sit within the footprint of the existing site, to include a pool and to be economically viable. Havard Tisdale and the Nightingale Group both submitted pre-qualification questionnaires as part of their expressions of interest – but both subsequently withdrew.
The Executive then agreed that officers should test the market viability of a refurbished front building for leisure/retail/food use, with the filling-in of the original pool to create a level plinth area, and demolition of all other buildings on the site. Members agreed that the development could include a limited public pool element but would not include a council subsidy beyond a possible capital contribution not exceeding the estimated costs of demolition. In addition, the overall development cost should not exceed £3.5 million.
The Executive also agreed to a commitment to the demolition and removal of the buildings and the former pool area, the return of the site to sand and reinstatement of the sea wall if market testing failed to identify a deliverable scheme.
