Vow to protect site of historic council-owned baths after spate of vandal attacks

The Grade II listed Smethwick Baths, which closed a year ago, are set to be offloaded by the council after vandal attacks left taxpayers footing £7,500 extra a month for tighter security.

The council’s cabinet has now agreed to offer the empty but damaged building in Thimblemill Road, Smethwick, to community organisations. If no suitable bids are received, the council said it would put the building up for auction.

The art deco baths, which were open for more than 90 years before closing in July 2023, have been “extensively” vandalised with doors, toilets and windows smashed.

The baths in Thimblemill Road closed after the public opening of the multi-million-pound Sandwell Aquatics Centre a mile away in Londonderry Lane, Smethwick.

More than a year ago, Sandwell Council had agreed to work on plans by music charity the People’s Orchestra to move into the grade II listed building and create a new music venue and community hub. But the council is not keen to push ahead with those plans over fears it would be too risky and costly.

At the cabinet meeting, the council’s Conservative leader Councillor Will Gill said he was concerned the art deco baths could be lost in the same manner as the famous Crooked House pub near Dudley – and asked what the council was doing to protect it.

The famously wonky pub in Himley closed in July last year and within a month had been gutted by fire. The pub’s new owners demolished the building illegally days later. Arson charges were eventually brought against six people with the landowner ordered to reconstruct the 18th-century building.

Councillor Gill said at the meeting on Wednesday: “Many of the people I have spoken to are concerned that selling to a private developer could lead to Smethwick Baths going into a Crooked House-style situation,”

“I do from a cultural value perspective think the best way to protect that heritage is to progress with the community asset transfer. That being said, what reassurances can we as a council provide to the community to ensure that we protect the cultural heritage of the baths?”

Councillor Peter Hughes, the council’s Labour cabinet member for regeneration and infrastructure said it was taking the search for a new owner seriously and would focus on keeping it for the community as much as possible.

The building would be auctioned as a “very, very last resort,” he said.

He said councillors would still have the final say on the new owner, the council had several powers to protect the building and its potential future use and its listed status came with its own safeguards.

He said the People’s Orchestra had been “given every opportunity” to provide “viable” plans but it “hadn’t occurred.”

Council chief executive Shokat Lal promised the council would be “vigorous and thorough” in vetting bids from potential new owners.

Mr Lal said several community organisations – that were “very financially stable” – had already shown an interest in the 90-year-old building before cabinet had met.

Sandwell Council said it was reluctant to push ahead with the plans for the community hub as it would still be responsible for the ongoing costs of the building for at least another three years while the bid was prepared – an amount that could balloon to £2.7 million.

On top of that, the People’s Orchestra would only take over part of the building until 2034. The crucial bid for government funding could also be rejected outright – a risk the council says it is unwilling to take.

The council says it has more than 130 ‘assets’ in its property portfolio that are worth around £11m and surplus to requirements and is now looking to sell those off to meet a ‘savings target’ of more than £4m in the next two years.