Did this need to be demolished?
SECRET photographs taken minutes before the once glorious Dolphin Splashdown building was demolished show the pool seemingly in good condition, protestors have claimed.
They say the demolition crew were “horrified” at instructions to rip out every inch of the facility to make way for a new Sainsbury’s supermarket.
Resident Mark Lines said: “For months we’ve heard the pool was in such a bad state that it was not viable to repair. Yet these pictures show how clean and totally usable it looks.”
Earlier this year experts reporting to Milton Keynes Council described the building – now razed to the ground – as “not salvageable”.
Purchased from the council by a private company many years ago, the premises had been severely damaged by fire and vandalism.
In July the council granted planning permission to demolish and rebuild as a supermarket.
Development control committee chairman Brian White said this week: “Parts of the swimming pool may look fine in photographs but if was filled with water it would be in danger of subsiding.
“I admit, in the course of its history, mistakes have been made about Dolphin Splashdown. But it was too late to save it. There were major problems.”
The planning agreement included a promise from Sainsbury’s to donate £500,000 to improve other city leisure facilities.
Mr Lines said: “The council should hang their heads in shame for selling out to a supermarket.”
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Weather for Milton Keynes
Monday 20 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North
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