VOLUNTEERS who have battled to save a community swimming pool have reluctantly admitted defeat.

Shildon Community Pool Association announced its decision at a public meeting this week, saying it had exhausted all avenues in its bid to save the pool, which is in the grounds of Thornhill Primary School in the town.

The pool has been closed since January this year after it developed a leak, and Sedgefield Borough Council said it would not foot the bill for costly repairs.

The building was handed back to original owners Durham County Council and no decision has been made about its future.

The association told residents it had written to Durham County Council, asking to lease the pool so it could try and run it as a charitable concern.

Durham County Council agreed to the lease, but only for four years, and volunteers say that is not long enough for them to secure funding for the future.

The chairman of the association, Councillor John Smith, said: "We have been told that it would be very, very difficult to get any grant funding for any project for only four years."

Coun Smith said the council wanted the association to erect a large security fence between the school and the pool and that would be too costly.

It is believed repairs to the leak in the pool could cost in the region of £10,000 and there was also other work needed to bring it up to standard.

The association needed to do a costly feasibility study.

Coun Smith said: "It is very disappointing that the town will lose a valued facility and that the children from the town will have to go somewhere else to learn to swim.