Owners of the Oasis centre in Swindon should face enforcement action, campaigners have urged.
News outlets, including the Swindon Advertiser, showed pictures of the state of the building this week - there is green mould growing on the walls of the pool area.
The pool itself is drained, except where some rainwater has got in and turned a stagnant brown-green colour, and most of the interior really needs a thorough clean and fumigate.
Save Oasis Swindon, which has lobbied for the centre to be re-opened, but kept as close as possible to its original state, says this is not good enough and has written to Swindon Borough Council.
The local authority is both the planning authority and the freeholder of the site, although, with a long lease with decades left to run Seven Capital is the owner of the building.
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Save Oasis Swindon wrote: "The shocking state of the Oasis Leisure Centre has made the Daily Mail, Metro, Bristol Live, Gloucestershire News and other media outlets this week.
“The Oasis has now been closed for five years, and Swindon Borough Council has failed to take any enforcement action against Seven Capital in terms of maintaining the Grade II-listed heritage building."
The council, as owners of the Oasis, and as the local authority, has a legal obligation to ensure a Grade II-listed building is kept in a good state of repair and to take enforcement action as necessary.
“We urge your enforcement department to start taking this action against Seven Capital.”
The letter to the council adds: “We are monitoring this closely and will be taking this further with Historic England and the Twentieth Century Society if maintenance work does not start soon on the site.
“Having workers on the site would deter the continued break-ins of urban explorers and anti-social behaviour.”
A Swindon Borough Council spokesperson said: “As the Oasis is listed, Seven Capital is responsible for keeping the building protected from the elements and secure.
“Our conservation officer has already spoken to them about this latest break-in but, unfortunately, if someone is determined to get into a building, they will invariably find a way to do so.
“It is disappointing such activity is being shared so publicly as it only serves to encourage others to overcome the security that is in place.”
Seven Capital was also contacted for comment and declined to say anything.
Although the company has been given planning permission to demolish all but the listed pool area and dome, and rebuild the centre without a sports hall, consent was refused for 700 flats to be built in eight blocks on the site.
The company said the housing scheme was essential to funding the new leisure centre, and since the refusal of consent last summer there has been no word from Seven Capital on what it plans to do, if anything, with the site.
Councillor Jim Robbins, the leader of the council, said: “We remain committed to doing everything we can to get a refurbished Oasis pool and slides back open again for people to enjoy. It is an absolute priority.
“The three planning decisions approved by the Planning Committee were formally issued a few weeks ago. We’ll continue to work closely with Seven Capital and I am hopeful there will be some positive progress in the coming months.”
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