CALLS were made for the public to be consulted before a decision was taken on plans to cut opening hours at Minehead's Aquasplash leisure complex by some 30 hours a week. But Cllr Jess Griffith found she was a lone voice at Wednesday night's full council meeting as members agreed to reduce hours in a bid to keep the centre within a newly earmarked £217,185 budget. She was also the only councillor to question why, out of six scenarios put before members, not one of them included the option to keep opening hours at their current level. She accused the council of "hiding" away the true impact of 'scenario one', namely to limit operating hours to 58 hours a week in term time and 66 hours a week during holidays. Councillors were also asked to approve closing the pool at Christmas, New Year and on Bank Holidays, although the latter suggestion proved unpopular and members called for flexibility to allow the pool to open on Easter and summer public holidays. Deputy leader Cllr Bryan Leaker warned members that maintaining the status quo would involve an eight per cent increase in Council Tax bills to cover the additional £83,000 needed to keep the complex open for more hours. But all councillors agreed that more should be done to market the facility and to encourage people of all ages to use it. Corporate director Bruce Lang said consultations would be held with users to establish the best opening times under the new regime, providing the proposals came within the budget. Council leader Cllr Steven Pugsley said more money had been allocated to Aquasplash in the forthcoming year's budget than in the previous 12 months and the council had a duty to satisfy both Aquasplash users and Council Tax payers at the same time. He also sought to give assurances that there would be "no more than a reasonable gap" between the inevitable closure of the pool and the opening of the replacement facility within the New Horizons lifelong learning and leisure centre. Finance portfolio holder Cllr Roger Webber said the £217,185 allocated to Aquasplash for 2006-07 was realistic but it was vital that residents supported the pool in order to boost income and make it a more viable business proposition. "I'm with you all in trying to keep this pool open but we cannot keep drawing from our reserves to fund the pool," he said. "If we can pull the pool around and keep it within the budget we will be able to look at opening for additional hours." Although councillors dismissed out of hand any of the other scenarios given to them for the future of the facility - three of which included closure - pool users still pleaded with them not to make any cuts to the existing opening hours at the complex. Regular swimmer and Minehead businessman Marcus Kravis said he believed the authority had a moral obligation to provide swimming facilities and said the council should concentrate on attracting users rather than cutting back services. He estimated it would cost all of West Somerset's residents just £9 to keep the pool operating at existing levels and accused councillors of making too drastic a cut. However, his suggestion for the council to speak to a firm specialising in operating pools on behalf of local authorities was welcomed by Cllr Pugsley. Other users told councillors they were being forced to make 50-mile round trips to Taunton to swim and said they had been astonished to learn the council was only effectively considering two options - cuts or closure.