AN MP is urging managers to splash out on a new swimming pool for Guisborough.

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Ashok Kumar is pressing for a commitment to either radically upgrade existing facilities or build a new pool.

The move follows an invitation from Guisborough Amateur Swimming Club to Dr Kumar to visit the club's annual championships at the baths on Guisborough's King George V playing fields complex.

He said: "The event was thrilling and well attended, but the surroundings were not inviting. The baths are now very much showing their age and I feel their condition might put off younger swimmers from taking the sport seriously.

"I would hope that Tees Valley Leisure Ltd, who now manage the baths on behalf of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, could look at either an investment programme to upgrade the baths or to look at a possible ambitious new building.

"A new swimming pool will be a mark of commitment to enhancing leisure provision in Guisborough."

Dr Kumar said he would write to the company to discuss possibilities and to the council suggesting that a steering group is formed.

Susan Johnson, secretary of Guisborough Amateur Swimming Club, said it was launching a petition for improved or new facilities. She said: "The pool is a community facility which is under used because of the poor condition."