IMPROVEMENTS costing about £170,000 have been completed at Temple Cowley swimming pool, Oxford.

The pool - the city's only competition standard swimming venue - was closed for a month while essential maintenance was carried out, including replacing ventilation equipment and heat pumps.

Oxford City Council deputy leader David Rundle said: "It is a well-loved facility which has a long history to it and we recognise that.

"What I would like to see in the future is a replacement pool for Temple Cowley and I would very much like that to be combined with an ice rink.

"But at this stage there isn't the money in the coffers for that so we need to look very carefully at how we manage leisure facilities in the future."

He added: "There has been some sprucing up, but what people will mostly see is that the swimming pool that they love and use is back in action."

Temple Cowley needs an estimated £1.2m to bring the pool complex up to modern standards.

Upgrading work has been hampered by problems with the diving pool, which has been closed since 2002.

Repairing the diving pool, it is understood, would involve draining the whole complex - a move it is feared could damage the main swimming and learner pools.