Heritage Lottery Fund and conservationists speak out about neglected Victorian spa

Birley Spa Bath House lies in Hackenthorpe as South Yorkshire’s only remaining Victorian Spa still set in its original grounds.

Since the Grade II-listed site was built 176 years ago it has been used as a bathing spot, pleasure ground for children and for guided tours and community meetings. But now the council want to sell it.

In a statement sent to a community group in Hackenthorpe the council stated they had been in discussion with interested groups about bringing it back into use but these came to an “unsuccessful conclusion” and the decision to sell it “in the very near future.”

This has sparked claims that the council are ‘selling off as much heritage as possible’ to help against government cuts to funding.

Over the years it has seen periods of popularity followed by dereliction. Most notably from 1998 when the council were awarded £500,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore the site. When it reopened in 2002 with a special Victorian day the council even won an award for the site’s design. But this revival was short-lived and the site again fell into rack and ruin.

Some have suggested why the site, which was once thriving, had fallen into dereliction again including councillor Bryan Lodge, Birley ward. He said the site is difficult to access with little parking. Others have said there has always been interest in the site but the website used for booking visits was consistently broken and the site was rarely open for use.

For decades volunteers from the Shire Brook Conservation Group maintained the site, they say without much help from the council.

Peter Wolstenholme, committee member of the group, was responsible for taking a photographic record of the site’s restoration and believes the main reason the site was neglected was due to a lack of publicity.

He said: “I didn’t feel, and the group didn’t feel, there was enough promotion. It should have been promoted as a venue for celebrations and meetings.

“It was a shame because the refurbishment was an excellent job. There was some vandalism but we maintained the site well.”

HFL said the council were under a 10-year contract for the funding, which expired in 2009, around the same time the Shire Brook Conservation Group stopped looking after the site.

With no one maintaining it and no obligation for the council to look after it the site it was left abandoned.

Mr Wolstenholme said: “It became too much of a task for a dwindling group. We used to have about 20 members when we started.

“But around 2008 we took the option to stop - there were too few of use to do it and we didn’t get council support. We weren’t responsible for paying for it and we didn’t have the finances to do it anymore.”

HLF said they have spoken to the council who assured them the ‘proper process and safeguards’ will be put in place for the site.

They added: “We understand it has been unused for some time, and they can no longer afford to subsidise its use.

“Following sale the council will retain the freehold interest as landlord, thus ensuring that the building does not deteriorate further and that the leaseholder complies with necessary requirements to repair and maintain the building.”

A friends group has recently been set up to lead the pushback against the sale lead by Abby Beckett-Smith who said around 80 people turned up to a recent committee meeting in support of the site being saved.

She said: “People from all kinds of backgrounds have come out in support. Some have an interest in the heritage and others for the community. It’s a real mix of ages with some with young families and others with very happy memories of how it used to be.”

Ms Beckett-Smith said they have had lots of suggestions for what to do with the site including setting up a cafe, she added: “It could be fantastic because there is so much interest in it at the moment, it just needs a bit of help.”

The Friends of Birley Spa have said they will launch a petition if the council decline to negotiate.