From August 7 2006, Bath Spa will be the only place in the UK where you can bathe in natural, hot spring water - just as people have been doing in the city of Bath for two thousand years.

In fact, Bath England is said to owe its very existence to the hot springs that well up here. Legend has it that back in the mists of time, Bladud was a prince who was banished from court when he contracted leprosy. He became a swineherd and took his pigs into the marshy ground where springs rose up by the River Avon. He noticed that the pigs which wallowed in the black mud no longer suffered scurvy and immersed himself. His leprosy was cured, he returned to court in triumph and eventually became king. In gratitude for his cure he built a temple by the spring and founded the city of Bath. It is said that the acorns on the frieze around the houses in the Circus refer to this story.

1.2 million litres of water rise daily from 3 natural springs at 40 degrees centigrade. The water contains sulphate, chloride, calcium, sodium hydrogen carbonate and silicate and can be used to treat rheumatic and muscular problems, skin problems and respiratory disease. However, Bath has been a spa town in name only since 1978 when the NHS spa treatment centre was closed due to concerns about the purity of the water.

The Bath Spa project has been causing local and national controversy since 2000, when the Millenium Commission gave a 7.78 million grant to refurbish five listed buildings on the site, close to the Roman Baths and Pump Room. It was scheduled to open in 2002 but has been constantly plagued by expensive problems. A grand opening was planned to coincide with a concert in the city of Bath in 2003 by the Three Tenors, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, but the building was not ready. Peeling paint, leaking floors and vandals breaking glass panels have led to a series of delays and spiralling costs - the total investment in the project is now over 40 million, from an estimated cost of 13 million.

Bath Spa will be operated by Thermae Development Company, a Dutch spa development company which created the Thermae 2000 Spa in Valkenburg, Holland in 1989. The Spa has since been credited with the flourishing of the local tourism industry and the regeneration of the town's economy. It is the hope of the local council, which is footing much of the inflated bill, that the regaining of spa status will have equally beneficial effects on the city of Bath.