A CAMPAIGN has been launched to save Didcot Wave swimming pool from closure.

Under a proposal by South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC), the popular facility in Newlands Avenue will close after the opening of a new £15m leisure centre in the town in 2016.

The new centre, which will include a 25m eight-lane pool, will open as part of plans for a 2,000-home estate at North East Didcot, on land north of the Ladygrove estate.

An SODC consultation under way is asking residents what facilities they would like to see at the new leisure centre.

But it does not spell out the threat to Didcot Wave, and now Labour town councillor Des Healy has launched a campaign to save it.

Mr Healy, of Collingwood Avenue, is urging SODC to think again before it goes ahead with its proposal to close the family pool.

The former Didcot power station worker has organised an online petition and is also collecting signatures for a paper petition. He is urging district council leaders to rethink, saying the growth of Didcot means the Wave should be allowed to stay open.

Mr Healy, a town councillor for Park ward, swims regularly at the pool. He said: “Didcot Wave is one of the few public facilities left this side of the railway line and we don’t want to lose it.

“I’m concerned that if people tick the option for a 25m pool [in the consultation] they will be signing the death knell for the Wave. I’m asking them to add a comment saying ‘not at the expense of the Wave’.

“The council’s official consultation finishes on Monday, July 22, and we will try to gather as many signatures as we can before then, but our campaign will continue after that.

“SODC has very healthy reserves and does not need to close the Wave to finance the new centre.”