The long running saga of the King’s Meadow Swimming Pool is a measure of just how mad public decision-making can get.

We have given a bunch of anoraks at English Heritage the power to decide without any comeback to ‘list’ and therefore preserve any building they fancy. Some of these buildings have long passed their useful lives. They are not fit for any particular purpose and they cost a fortune to maintain, heat, refit and even keep standing. All they are is old.

Who picks up the bill for this? We do. English Heritage, the people who do the listing, are 70% funded by the government but are accountable to nobody. Their decisions, when they involve a publicly owned building, put an obligation on the taxpayer, local or national, to cough for the upkeep. It is all just a matter of opinion whether something gets listed or not – the public pay but have no say. The architecture anoraks have power but no responsibility. Money is no object.

When I talk to people who’ve lived in Reading for many years and were actually forced as children to swim at King’s Meadow they invariably have no love for the place. They usually describe it as a “cold, filthy pit.” I’ve no doubt that the silent majority in this town find the whole idea of restoring this out of date and deeply ugly building that has been unused for thirty years utterly ridiculous. That they are expected to pay for it is an insult.

Last week councillors on the Leisure Scrutiny Panel gave their verdict on two proposals for the future of the building. One involves incorporating the pool into a hotel as part of a commercial plan, the other was put forward by the Kings Meadow Campaign (KMC) – the individuals who lobbied English Heritage to list the building.

I predicted some time ago (Post 17 Jan 2008) that, although Conservative councillors had climbed upon the King’s Meadow Campaign bandwagon as a handy means of bashing Labour, if they gained any influence they would have serious questions to answer before agreeing to back a plan to restore the pool. So it turned out.

Although the councillors were all far too polite to say so, the plans put forward by KMC were totally unrealistic. Their ideas were fanciful, their costings pie in the sky. When the crunch came the Conservatives just couldn’t bring themselves to vote for it. Who would have taken their statements at budget time in any way seriously had they backed this nonsense?

The people involved with KMC have been given every chance. They had two years to come up with something sensible and have utterly failed. KMC has rather arrogantly claimed to speak for ‘the public’ but seem to think that the cost of running a white elephant like this doesn’t matter. That they received any support at all proves once again that some politicians are prepared to vote for any old tosh if there is the prospect of a few votes.

Not that a hotel is necessarily a great idea – there are all sorts of arguments about the kind of building that might or might not work. Mostly stated as fact, but actually just a matter of opinion.

But here’s an idea after several year’s of muddle. Some things just are not worth saving. Get rid of the listing, put the interesting bits of ironwork in the museum where they belong and have the rest of the monstrosity bulldozed. Fill in the hole and put it all to grass. Adding a little more open space to King’s Meadow wouldn’t hurt.