Council-owned swimming pools reprieved after vote

Two publicly owned swimming pools earmarked for closure next month have been reprieved after opposition councillors won a crucial vote to block the move.

They also pressed for repairs needed to keep Park Pool in Ormskirk and Skelmersdale's Nye Bevan Pool open for the next five years.

The vote at Wednesday's full meeting of West Lancashire Borough Council in Ormskirk was a defeat for the ruling Labour group, which had insisted it had no other option but to reluctantly shut the pools.

The outcome of the vote means the local authority will now have to hold a special budget meeting to amend its spending plans.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said opposition to the pool closure plans came from the Conservatives, the local Our West Lancashire party, and former Labour councillors who now sit as Independents.

They said strong public opposition to closing the leisure facilities, expressed in a winter consultation exercise, should be respected.

Opposition councillors have asked a senior director to report to their next full meeting with proposals for repairs to the two pools "to ensure continued operation for the coming five years".

They also called for a cross-party working group to:

• Closely examine the income and expenditure of the leisure centres
• Investigate investments to reduce operating costs
• Make recommendations to reduce the subsidy currently needed to run the pools

Earlier, Labour councillors Carl Coughlan, who has a leisure services remit, and Mark Anderson, responsible for finances, acknowledged the depth of public feeling over the issue.

But they insisted, reluctantly, that the council had no other choice.

They warned the local authority would risk having a Section 114 notice - effectively declaring itself bankrupt.

This, they said, would see leisure services and other non-essential spending threatened, frozen or ended.

Opposition councillors said this potential risk was being exaggerated.

Their victory was applauded by members of the public who had gathered inside the council chamber.

Earlier, many protested outside, chanting "save our pools" and carrying placards.

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