Concerns are growing over a lack of action on a public safety review for Ruislip Lido, which was personally promised by the Leader of the Council, Cllr. Ian Edwards, more than six months ago. He gave us the assurance at our AGM and public meeting in April 2025, following residents’ concerns about chaotic overcrowding and the risk of emergency services being unable to access the site during peak times.
In response, Cllr. Edwards acknowledged the “obvious risks” at the Lido and conceded that the site’s existing risk assessments “may not be best practice.” He gave his public commitment that a new, comprehensive risk assessment was “a piece of work that will be picked up very quickly”.
A busy summer – without any change
Residents’ fears were realised this summer, when emergency vehicles struggled to access the Lido through the congested sole road to the Lido, an incident captured on video by a resident on 29th June.
However, ahead of our September public meeting we asked what progress had been made, only to find that the Leader’s April assurances had not been actioned.
When asked, the council’s Green Spaces Technical Manager, queried the status of the assessment, writing that “…it seems Members promised something that was not communicated to Officers or certainly not me anyway, is there a plan to produce such a risk assessment…?”
A subsequent email from other officers confirmed the council was “intending to instruct an external specialist” but, as of late September, had “not had a response from the recommended professionals“.
At our public meeting on 30th September, residents were given a similar update by Cllr. Peter Smallwood, who stated the council was “in the process of finding external experts“.
Delay to the start of the risk assessment process
It is now over six months since the Leader’s pledge and four months since the public safety incident. Residents remain concerned that with no apparent progress, no consultant instructed, and no firm timeline in place, the Lido could be facing another busy season without the “robust risk assessment” that was promised.
We hope to see in early January
At our public meeting, Cllrs Smallwood and Riley said:
“We have done some research. The council has an operations plan for the Lido which incorporates fundamental functions like traffic management.
The council is in the process of finding external experts to engage with them over the remainder of 2025 and this review will direct the controls and measures in place for the organisation in the running of the Lido.
Once the document is approved, the residents will be invited to feed into the review and feed in their experiences”.
It is, of course, the residents’ concern around the Lido that the current operations plans for functions like traffic management are inadequate. We are pleased that the council appear to have acknowledged that they do not possess the necessary specialities in-house, and hope that they do find some specialists who can run the required investigation.
We will provide updates as soon as we have them.
Yes the photo isn’t of the Lido
We’re poking fun at the TikTok and clickbait “did you know London has a secret beach” – the photo is the Lido in their eyes. It’s actually a photo of Bournemouth beach during the air show in the summer. They have crowds of people too, but their crowds are planned and managed.
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