A SOUTHAMPTON swimming pool under threat of closure could be reopened within a year after a £1.25m overhaul.

Oaklands Pool shut 14 months ago for repairs, but council leader Simon Letts now hopes it could reopen in a year if plans for refurbishment works get the green light.

As previously reported in the Daily Echo, there was widespread concern the popular pool would never reopen, especially with the neighbouring Oaklands School to be demolished in September.

It shut in May 2012 after a long-standing leak problem, but the move sparked widespread condemnation both amongst the local community and city councillors.

Since then civic chiefs have been in discussions with a community group called Oaklands Community Pool, who may take on the running of the facility. The group contains several people with expertise of running a pool, and talks are still ongoing.

Now the council’s Cabinet is expected to recommend spending £1.258m to bring the pool back to a good state, with that money expected to maintain it over 15 years.

The cost would be divided over the course of three years, but Cllr Letts says he hopes a lower price can be negotiated once the work goes out to tender. Among the work would be a full mechanical and electrical upgrade and a roof repair.

If the Cabinet approves the plan at its meeting on July 16, a detailed feasibility study will be conducted, which will take three months.

Council officers have estimated it may take until June 2015 to complete work at the site, but Cllr Letts hopes it can be done sooner.

He said: “We are determined to get the pool back open, and I will be instructing officers to get that pool open for swimmers within a year.

“We’re confident we’ve got a coherent group to take on the running of the pool and we are working with them on their business plan to make sure there is an excellent community facility there.”

In a joint statement, Coxford Labour Councillors Against the Cuts Keith Morrell and Don Thomas said: “We welcome this evidence that the council is responding to pressure from users and from the local community and is now prepared to carry out a detailed feasibility study into the costs of re-opening the pool and to earmark funds for the capital work required to give the pool a 15-year life-span.

“We are disappointed that the council is still unwilling to take responsibility for operating the pool, given its importance to the children and young people of the area, to disabled and elderly residents, and of course to the able-bodied. However, we applaud the willingness of a group of local people to undertake that responsibility, although we must admit to having reservations about the project’s viability.”