MINEHEAD moved a step nearer to getting a swimming pool when town councillors agreed at a meeting last week to allocate up to £10,000 for a feasibility study for a £2 million outdoor pool sited on the Irnham Road recreation ground.

Recreation ground manager Colin Johnson, who outlined the potential scheme to councillors, said a 25-metre heated outdoor pool could be situated on the site of the now demolished football club spectators’ stand. It was hoped that the facility would attract both residents and visitors and three of the town’s schools had expressed an interest.

Mr Johnson told councillors that there was an urgent need for a swimming pool in the town. “When I visit schools, I find there are 13-year-olds who can’t swim,” he said.

“People ask why we can’t have an indoor pool but the fact is that many around the country are having to close because of fuel costs. An indoor pool would cost around £6-8 million compared with around £2 million for an outdoor facility, and with an area population of 12,000 just wouldn’t be viable.”

Councillors accepted Mr Johnson’s offer to organise the feasibility study at no cost to the council, using the money to employ specialist experts. “If it goes out to tender it could cost £600 a day and the money won’t go very far,” he said.

Mr Johnson said that outdoor swimming was becoming increasingly popular in the Southwest and it would be relatively cheap to run such a pool for seven or eight months of the year, particularly if it was heated by green energy.

One possibility was using solar panels which could be installed on the roof of the nearby bowling club building. A comprehensive feasibility study was needed to satisfy potential funders’ questions concerning proven need, site accessibility, and whether the pool would d be heated by green energy.

A long-term business plan would be essential to calculate capital requirements and running costs. Reviewing operating options, Mr Johnson said: “The council doesn’t want to run this operation and nowadays many pools are run by CICs.

“All these questions could be answered by a feasibility study contributed to by specialist experts and would include a ten-year projection and an assessment of whether the project could be done without subsidies.

“Of course everyone would like an indoor pool but we have got to be realistic,” Mr Johnson told councillors. He said that it might be possible to put some sort of a roof on the pool but that was something which could be thought about in the future.

Cllr Craig Palmer said that all options should be considered in order to make sure that Minehead got the right facility.

Cllr Marcus Kravis said the building of an indoor pool would be a job for a higher authority “and we don’t know if there is the political will to do it. This proposal would be a real solution for the town council, bearing in mind we are a lower tier authority.

“Swimming has never been more popular - there were more people than ever in the sea here this summer - and we must provide the facilities that people want.

He added: “We need proper figures in order to make the right decisions. This is a fantastic opportunity and a cracking idea. Whether it will pay off or not, I can’t tell you - and that’s why we need to spend some money to find out if it will.”

After the defeat of a proposed amendment to limit the figure to £8000, councillors accepted Cllr Kravis’s proposal to spend up to £10,000 on the feasibility study.