THE doors of a much-vaunted swimming pool that has been dogged by delays will finally open this summer.

The new £5.7m pool at the Louisa Centre in Front Street, Stanley, will be open to the public from Monday, August 9.

With its expanded gym, main pool and training pool, it makes the centre one of the biggest leisure facilities in the North-East.

It was due to open in spring last year, but was beset with problems from the outset.

Coun Ann Taylor, Derwentside District Council's executive member for leisure, said: "We had to wait for a quality building.

"There have been snags along the way, but it has been worth the wait. The people of Stanley have to be thanked for their patience."

Work started on the new pool in November 2001. It ran into trouble the following year, when the firm contracted to supply insulating panels for the pool went into liquidation.

The site is riddled with old mine workings, which last year led to the demolition and rebuilding of a main wall of the building.

Contractor AWG was due to hand over the building to the council earlier this year but leisure chiefs found a string of faults.

The firm had to appoint a new construction team to correct the problems, delaying the hand-over and costing it thousands of pounds in penalty clauses.

Council leader Alex Watson said: "It has been a long, hard road to get here. But we have delivered one of the best leisure facilities in the North-East."

August will be the first time that Stanley residents can take a dip at their leisure centre since the Burns Pool in the town closed in 1996.

Its summer programme will focus on cramming in as much public swimming time as possible, until the school term starts in September.

There will be sessions for the over-50s, adults-only times and sessions aimed at youngsters with inflatables and rafts.

Steve Howell, head of leisure services, said: "Initially we just want to get the facilities on-line and have people using them.

"The programme is provisional and we hope people will let us know what they like about it, or what else they would like to see introduced."

A full programme of swimming development and lessons for youngsters will be published at the end of the summer.