A SCHEME costing £41 MILLION scheme to build four new swimming pools and close four old ones will go ahead, Bradford Council has decided.

Richard Dunn sports centre in Odsal is to shut, as well as swimming pools in Bingley, Bowling and Queensbury, much to the dismay disappointment of campaign groups fighting to keep them open.

But councillors said the plan would be a money-saver and gave a stark warning that the only other option was for the cash-strapped Council to stop providing sports centres altogether.

Councillor David Green, leader of the Labour-run authority, said: “The only other option — and as I say we’ve spent two years looking at this — is that the Council doesn’t provide those facilities. It’s that stark. In a few years’ time, the Council would just not provide sports and swimming facilities.”

The proposed new pools are earmarked for Nelson Street in the city centre, Squire Lane in Toller, Sedbergh playing fields near Odsal and Asa Briggs recreation ground in Queensbury.

Yesterday’s meeting heard that the scheme would be £17 million cheaper over the next 25 years than revamping bringing the existing pools up to scratch.

But Jayne Leech, of the group Save Queensbury Pool, said a Council claim that 94 per cent of the public backed the plan was based on the views of about 700 people, which she said represented only a fraction of the district’s population.

And Ian Brewer, of East Bowling, said the area would be losing its only community facility with the closure of Bowling Pool.

He said: “It’s a good place for the children to go to.”