Open swimming pool faces closure

Each user was said to cost local taxpayers £17 a visit

Portishead open air pool is facing closure after a council review panel said it was too expensive to run.

Its report said every swimmer costs local taxpayers almost £17 pounds a visit - money it said could be better spent elsewhere.

If the recommendation is approved by North Somerset Council, the lido could close in a few weeks time.

The five-month review looked at several options, including possibly setting up an independent trust to run the pool.

The report concluded that the council level of subsidy for users was no longer sustainable and the pool should be permanently closed.

The total number of users up to 14 September was 7,838 and was not expected to exceed 8,000 by the end of the season, it said.

This included repeat visitors.

Costs to the local taxpayer will amount to more than £130,000 over the course of the 2008 season, which runs from 24 May to 28 September.

The review panel said the subsidy could be better spent on more important council priorities, including new investment at the Parish Wharf leisure centre, also in Portishead, where demand was growing.

Panel chairman, councillor Elfan Ap Rees, said: "The panel has thoroughly examined all the options, but the fact is the use of the pool is highly weather dependent and is simply too expensive to operate for the few numbers who use it.

"We discovered, for example, that a weekly visit by a regular swimmer could cost the council nearly £300 this year, even more if they held a season ticket, and these costs are rising."

The recommendation, which was unanimous, will now go to a joint scrutiny panel before being presented to the executive for a decision on 28 October.