SAFETY concerns have been raised over a long-held ambition to build a public swimming pool, after a suspected sinkhole collapse just yards from the proposed site.

While Harrogate Borough Council is hoping to have a pool next to Ripon Leisure Centre completed by December next year, geophysical experts said the ground there is geologically unpredictable and unstable.

With widespread support from residents, the plan to replace the city’s 1904 Spa Baths was first announced ten years ago, before being postponed due to the recession.

The authority announced last year it was pressing ahead with the scheme, and has recently tested ground conditions at the site off Dallamires Lane, before a hole of unknown depth opened up on the site on February 23.

Ross Nicolson, principal geotechnical engineer for Geoinvestigate Ltd, said the British Geological Survey (BGS) had previously identified the area as prone to sinkhole collapses due to dissolving gypsum deposits.

Mr Nicolson said the ground collapse on February 23 may indicate the gypsum process is still ongoing in the area where the council plans to build the five lane, 25-metre pool, and other facilities. 

He said the ground at the leisure centre is just as prone to sinkhole collapse as the former Ripon Auction Mart site, where the council has previously acted to block housing schemes.

The former Sunderland University geological engineering lecturer said: “The contradiction is clear, blatant and inexplicable. It seems that when it’s comes to the council’s own development plans on council-owned land for a major extension of the leisure centre they are doing everything in their power to promote development over known unstable ground as shown by the recent collapse.”

A Harrogate Borough Council spokeswoman said there was nothing to suggest the ground collapse on February 23 was connected to three recent test drillings on the site.

She said: “The sinkhole will not affect the project to construct a new pool for Ripon.

“We are still waiting for the structural engineer’s report, which will influence the design of the new building.  We’ve always known about the potential of sinkholes on the site, which is why we’ve been carrying out tests to understand what foundations may be required.”