HOPES for a long-awaited Minehead public swimming pool came one stroke closer this week when an independent feasibility study recommended that a 25-metre pool should be built on the Irnham Road recreation ground.

Minehead has been without a public pool since the Aquasplash facility closed 18 years ago.

The proposed pool, on the site of a now-demolished football grandstand, would be part of a new community health and wellbeing hub with a range of facilities including a gym.

Previous estimates have costed the scheme at £5 million.

The group running the project will now use the study’s findings to bid for funds from Sport England and other potential funding partners.

The £20,000 study, led by consultants Strategic Leisure Ltd, of Bridnorth, concluded there was ‘a strong strategic case’ for developing a new community health and wellbeing hub in Minehead.

Commissioned by Somerset Activity and Sports Partnership (SASP) through Sport England's Somerset Coastal Place Partnership Programme, the study examined whether a new swimming and wellbeing facility could meet the long-term needs of Minehead and the surrounding area.

It recommended the development of a facility centred around a 25-metre swimming pool and fitness suite, integrated with the existing community centre to create ‘a wider community health and wellbeing destination’.

SASP deputy chief executive Jake Hannis said: “This study provides robust independent evidence that a health and wellbeing hub could make a significant contribution to improving the health, wellbeing, and quality of life of people living in Minehead and West Somerset.”

Minehead Health and Wellbeing CIC chairman Bruce Lang said: “The study represents an important independent assessment of everything we have been working toward over the past several years.

“It confirms that there is a genuine need for improved leisure and wellbeing facilities serving Minehead and West Somerset."