New swimming pool won’t be built at Minsthorpe Community College

Wakefield Council’s cabinet approved plans to build the £5m facility at the site in November last year.

But the plans have now been scraped after the council and college agreed that the site was not a viable option.

Coun Les Shaw, cabinet member for culture, leisure and sport, said the college’s lay-out and the costs of building the new pool made the plans unworkable.

He said: “This is a setback but does not affect our commitment to deliver a new, high quality swimming pool for the South East.

“It is unfortunate that we cannot deliver our plans on the Minsthorpe College site but we have to accept it and move on as quickly as possible.

“We are now looking at other options, including the site of the old swimming pool, where demolition is now underway.

“A report will go to cabinet as soon as possible so we can move forward with a new preferred site.”

Contractors started demolishing the old pool, which was too expensive to repair, in late October and expect to be finished by Christmas.

Coun Shaw said: “The new swimming pool is an important project.

“It is essential that we get it right to ensure we provide the right facility for the local community.”

The council closed Minsthorpe Swimming Pool in 2012 because of maintenance problems.

An investment of more than £1.2m was needed to fix the facility.

And in June 2013 the council shut the pool down permanently after they said it was not financially viable to upgrade it.