CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save Temple Cowley Pools are to make a last ditch attempt to get city council leaders to keep the leisure facility in East Oxford.

They will call on Monday for Oxford City Council members to abandon plans to close the pools. A new swimming pool in Blackbird Leys would then be built.

It comes after a 2,600-signature petition was handed to the council in February calling on it to keep maintaining the Temple Cowley Pools, in Temple Road.

The latest petition urges the council to “keep publicly funded leisure facilities inside the ring road in East Oxford, by carrying out the minimum maintenance required” to keep Temple Cowley open.

And it said the council must “instruct” the company which runs leisure services for the council, Fusion Lifestyle, to put on more classes and events to boost income to make improvements.

The new £8.5m Pegasus Road pool would use £1.5m from the Temple Cowley sale and cost £16.8m over 25 years. It would have an eight-lane, 25-metre pool, sauna and changing facilities.

Campaign leader Jane Alex-ander said: “There is no reason why Temple Cowley Pools can’t be saved.

“South Oxfordshire District Council is planning to build a 50-metre pool in Didcot as part of its leisure strategy and that would render any new £25m pool in Blackbird Leys useless.

“This 2,600-signature petition follows an earlier petition of 10,000 names from people wanting to save Temple Cowley Pools.”

She said the Temple Cowley Pools and Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre, next to the proposed pool development, could be refurbished for just £3m.

The motion will be put to the council on Monday night, with a five minute speech by Mrs Alexander.

Members will be asked to make recommendations to the council’s ruling executive, which has yet to make a final decision on building the new pool.

The council said refurbishing Temple Cowley Pools would cost £10m, increasing to £25m when including running costs over a 25-year period.

It said a £3m refurbishment would only create a backlog of maintenance and would not cover future repairs or refurbish the pools to the latest industry standards.

Bob Timbs, executive member for leisure, said: “The campaigners have put forward a series of questions and we will do our best to answer them at the meeting.

“The tenders are not yet back in for the new pool, so the executive board still has a decision to make about whether the council can afford to build one.”

affrench@oxfordmail.co.uk