Can West Country lidos ever be safe from closure?

As temperatures increase and warm spells become more guaranteed, outdoor swimming pools look forward to a welcome boost to their visitor numbers.

This year, however, the gates to the lido in Stroud, Gloucestershire, have not opened for the start of the summer season, and swimmers might only get a short window to take a dip there - if at all.

The district council said the Stratford Park facility needs £5m of repairs, but the authority is not in a position to fund them.

Across the West, there are about 15 outdoor pools, most of which were built by local councils in the 1930s, but rising maintenance and running costs have forced many to be taken over by community groups to prevent them from closing.

It is part of a wider trend hitting indoor and outdoor pools, with more than 500 closing across England since 2010, according to Swim England.

So, can they be saved?

Campaigners Save Stroud Lido organised protests after the council said the lido would not open this summer and could be closed indefinitely.

The council has now pledged to reopen it for a short six-week season from the end of July - but only if essential safety works can be completed.

The council is set to be abolished in 2028 as part of a county-wide restructure, and there is little spare cash to invest in anything other than statutory services.

Thoughts are now turning to crowdfunding or large donations.

Earlier this month, Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity based in Stroud, said he would be willing to help fund some of the upgrades.

Vince is a supporter of the campaign group and said he would still be "interested to help" but has not been approached.

"It can't be right in our country, which is not short of money, that we have to rely on people who have made a lot of money to be a little bit generous to help the bulk of people who actually underpin the entire economy," he said.

"It can't be right that we say we need rich people to help us out with the swimming pool."

The district council said it "appreciates any offers of goodwill", but it is "not in a position to accept direct individual donations" for the lido.

"Any financial contributions would need to be made through an appropriate charitable vehicle, and at present no charity has come forward to take on that role," it said.

Meanwhile, at Cheltenham Lido, nearly 300,000 visits were recorded last year, including season ticket holders and those making one-off visits.

The land on which the lido is based has been leased from the borough council since the 1990s, and the pool is run through a charity trust.

Julie Sergeant, Cheltenham Lido's CEO, said the 50m heated pool will always be the site's "big ticket item", but extras such as the café, a Nordic spa sauna and cold plunge pool and a winter cold water season also help to draw people in.

Revenue from the attached car park and an events programme make up other income streams for the lido, all of which keep it profitable and viable.

Sergeant said: "We have to look at our added value extras, like all of our events, such as theatre, cinema, and private hires.

"You've got to try and see ways to bring people in who wouldn't necessarily come just for swimming.

"We go from dawn till dusk."

Cheltenham Lido also takes part in an NHS scheme which offers a free block of sessions to help a person's mental or physical health.

Elsewhere in the West, Portishead Open Air Pool near Bristol was threatened with closure in 2008 when a community trust was formed to take it over from North Somerset Council.

A year later, American celebrity Ty Pennington carried out an extensive makeover of the pool for a TV show.

This year, the site has just finished upgrading its changing rooms and boiler, and installed new solar panels via a £1.3m grant from the government.

Emma, who is among the numerous volunteers which the pool relies on, said: "If we were to add up what we would have to spend on labour to have the amount of hours that the volunteers put in to this pool, that probably would finish us off."

She added: "I think what's required for that [to keep pools open] is for councils to understand these things are not liabilities.

"They are actually income generators if you run them properly, and it is perfectly possible to run them properly."

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