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Coseley baths campaigners looking forward

A year after the final swimmers dried themselves off and trudged out of Coseley baths, a barren landscape is all that remains where the building once stood.

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A year after the final swimmers dried themselves off and trudged out of Coseley baths, a barren landscape is all that remains where the building once stood.

Six months ago the baths were hastily hauled down; since then time has been standing still with a deal to develop the site yet to be struck.

Just as the derelict plot is in limbo between its past and its future, so residents seem unsure how to move on from a saga which sent shock waves through the community.

A lottery grant of between £1million and £2m was announced earlier this month, leading campaigners to declare: "We can't look back, we have got to look forward." The Big Lottery Fund, which has allocated the cash to Coseley East, is consulting residents about what they want to use it for.

However others cannot switch their gaze so easily, saying the grant has come months too late. Dudley Council claimed the baths, in Pear Tree Lane, needed £1m of urgent repairs to make the roof safe and a further £1m work to bring the rest of the building up to scratch.

John Wilkes, chairman of the Coseley Civic Trust, said: "I think it is important to make the comparison between these amounts because it impresses on the council that their actions have made something impossible which could now happen.

"We can't say we will spend this £1m on fixing the roof now the roof and the rest of the building is long gone." He added: "I agree that what we have to do now is look at what we can do. But the need for a swimming pool is still here and it would cost at least £5m to build a structure comparable to what was here before."

Brian Guest is trying to see the positives. The former spearhead of the Save Coseley Baths campaign group has now launched himself into fledgling organisation, Working Together for Coseley. The 66-year-old said the lottery cash must be put to "community use".

He added:"There are lots of things that are needed in Coseley - health provision, things for young people to do, facilities for the elderly.

"We were hopeful money would be forthcoming to save the baths but this is a different situation. We can't look back, we have got to look forward. This money could make a big difference to all our lives."

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