Fears for lido's future over pool break-ins

A number of break-ins pose a risk to a West Sussex lido's future, following damage to the site over the summer and pending maintenance costs, the attraction's management says.

Arundel Lido has been the subject of repeated break-ins in the evenings by young people wanting to swim, which has also seen the cover to the pool damaged.

Nikki Richardson, the lido's manager, said incidents such as the break-ins, on top of general running costs, put the future of the site in jeopardy, as well as posing safety risks for the young people breaking in.

She said: "Our worst fear is a staff member arriving in the morning and finding a dead body."

She said: "This sort of stuff is what is going to close us. This has happened about four or five times across the summer.

"There's a couple of groups that we have seen causing damage."

Richardson said the lido had seen two break-ins in recent weeks, once on the evening of Sunday, and previously on 18 August, as well as further incidents earlier in the summer.

Recently the pool's cover, which in itself costs £30,000 and helps to keep the lido at the right temperature overnight, was damaged after one group tried to wind it back.

She says that, as the lido can be highly chlorinated overnight due to cleaning processes where they need to "shock" the pool, this can also pose safety risks to young people breaking in.

The lido is looking to identify the people who broke into the site as well as asking parents to warn the children about the dangers of attempting to go for a late-night swim, she added.

A £500,000 fundraising campaign has been launched in a bid to fund some of the longer-term work to the pool, including replacing its tank, and pool pump systems.

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