SPORTS Minister Richard Caborn has pledged to ask Sport England to re-examine the case for funding a new pool for Guisborough.

More than 3,500 people signed a petition against Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's proposal to close the pool earlier this month.

The council said it had been informed by both Sport England and independent consultants that there were too many pools in the borough and that it would be better to have one main pool.

The council has promised not to close the facility as a result of council budgeting. But the long-term future of the pool still remains uncertain.

On Thursday, Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, with pool campaigners Rob Vincent-Jones and Carol Loughran, leisure consultant Graham Jones, and the council's leisure officer Carol Barnes, met Mr Caborn to discuss options for the redevelopment of the swimming baths.

The minister pledged he would personally ask Sport England to re-examine the case for funding a new pool, possibly in conjunction with other local initiatives now under way at Laurence Jackson School, which has recently been granted Sports College status.

Dr Kumar said: "The minister was very positive about our message. I think this gives a strong message that the Government is prepared to back Guisborough people in their fight to see that their town has the leisure facilities that are demanded for the 21st Century.

"I hope that, with co-operation of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and Laurence Jackson School, a new pool could now become more of a possibility in the future."