Lido campaigners launch petition

Hendy Pool was closed in 2002

Campaigners fighting to reopen a 70-year-old swimming pool have launched a petition to put pressure on the council to provide funding.

The lido in Hendy, Carmarthenshire, was closed in 2002 because of frost damage.

Steve Lloydjanes, Hendy Pool committee vice chairman, said he was worried the council was "dragging its feet" over providing a grant for the project.

But Carmarthenshire Council said officers were working alongside the committee to find a way forward.

Mr Lloydjanes, a community councillor in Llanedi, said the council could miss out on money pledged by the chancellor in the last budget for the run up to the 2012 London Olympics.

The funding is aimed at developing sport and leisure facilities in local communities.

He told the BBC News website: "Last Tuesday, at our meeting, there were 17 pool committee members and we each agreed to target a couple of streets [for the petition].

We've been trying to do something since 2002 and all we've agreed to do is draw up some specs Steve Lloydjanes Hendy Pool committee

"I personally have 670 names and I don't have any other numbers back from anyone else yet.

"When I started I was aiming at 2,500 names, but we're obviously going to exceed that easily."

Hendy Lido is just one of a handful of outdoor pools left in Wales.

Built in the early 1930s by unemployed tinplate workers, management of the pool was handed over to the community by the county council four years ago.

But after two successful summers one of the pool walls was found to be unsafe and it has remained closed ever since.

The council and the committee agreed at their last meeting to come up with specifications for a new pool that could be put to contractors for a quote.

Way forward

But Mr Lloydjanes said he was concerned at the time the process was taking.

He added: "They are definitely dragging their feet over it. We've been trying to do something since 2002 and all we've agreed to do is draw up some specs.

A Carmarthenshire Council spokesman said: "We've commissioned a report from a firm concerning Hendy Pool and council officers are looking to find a way forward.

"We're working alongside the pool committee throughout the process."