YOU have to admire Save Temple Cowley Pools, the campaign group that has steadfastly battled to keep the complex open.

Frankly, they have just refused to take no for an answer.

Today we report the group has won registration for Temple Cowley Pools as a community asset, meaning it now has the chance to raise enough money to buy it before it can be offered out on the open market.

Whether or not it can strike a deal with Oxford City Council – so often its adversary over the years – remains to be seen but it at least has won recognition on the important point it has always fought: whatever state Temple Cowley Pools is in it fulfils a special role in that community.

Given that it has been thwarted at almost every turn previously in its fight against the council’s long-stated wish to close the facility and concentrate on a new pool in Blackbird Leys, you have to admire the group’s fortitude.

And while it has perhaps been expensive on the public purse, we have always defended Save Temple Cowley Pools’ right to robustly test the council’s processes and hold it to scrutiny.

Perhaps, just perhaps, this city might end up with pools in both Cowley and Blackbird Leys.