URGENT talks about what to do with the only swimming pool in Worthing were due to take place tonight amid fears of a crisis in leisure services.

Swimmers and councillors have criticised the council after a last-minute report into the future of the dilapidated Aquarena pool was due to be discussed.

The report, by Hywel Griffiths, Worthing's director of community services, recommends the council should commission a study into the best way of funding a replacement pool.

An independent study could cost the council up to £25,000 but Mr Griffiths stresses that the Aquarena's lack of modern facilities means something needs to be done soon.

He said swimmers are deserting the pool in their droves and prefer to use facilities at Littlehampton, meaning a loss in income for the complex.

He also wants the council to consider a replacement for Worthing Leisure Centre, which does not have a pool, but says priority should be given to the Aquarena, built more than 30 years ago.

He said: "Although both buildings have been substantially improved and are

managed extremely efficiently, they are failing to meet the ever-rising expectations of our customers who compare them to new, exciting and up-to-date facilities.

"This in turn is beginning to have a knock-on effect on income."

The council cannot afford to replace the pool and the Leisure Centre itself, and Mr Griffiths says it may have to attract private investment in a "partnership arrangement" if Worthing is to have mod-

ern sports facilities in the future.

The Aquarena was due to close between October and December this year for urgent repairs but if councillors agree tonight that a funding study is needed it may only close for up to ten days.

And if the council is able to find the money for a new pool, which could take at least four years to build, it would be able to scale down its planned long-term spending at the Aquarena.

A costly two-month

closure next year for maintenance work to extend the building's life might not now go ahead.

Coun Maurice Tucker, who is a member of the Leisure Services Committee and whose children use the pool, said: "We need to have a replacement in place before anything else happens. Everyone knows the Aquarena has problems.

"The thing that concerns me is that if we do not do the repairs this year, we shall just have to do them later on anyway. We know this place needs replacing and we do not need a report to tell us that. This shows the Conservatives do not have a leisure strategy. The whole thing is farcical."

Leisure Services Committee member Coun Ann Lynn says Worthing needs a modern pool.

She said: "We have been aware for a while that there are other private pools which are more up to date, and we have to move with the times to provide what people want.

"We know that people are going to Littlehampton, where there's an excellent pool, but we want them to stay in Worthing.

"The Aquarena is too short, and we are going to have to build a longer, modern pool if we want to be able to host national and international events here.

"The pool and the Leisure Centre are beginning to age."

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