By Gary Cooper

MONTROSE IS to get a new £10.6 million swimming pool—despite fears other projects will be sacrificed to pay for it.

The ruling administration alliance on Angus Council last night secured the development in the face of claims by the SNP ~opposition the scheme was being “railroaded” through.

After a series of ballots on the hotly debated issue, it fell to Provost Ruth Leslie Melville to use her casting vote to pave the way for preparatory work to begin on the replacement pool.

She backed a motion by Montrose councillor Mark Salmond that the eight-lane pool be incorporated in the local authority’s 2007-2011 financial plan, with construction no later than 2012.

Mr Salmond warned a meeting of the full council that failure to support the move would sentence people in the town to no swimming pool provision in the near future, which he declared “unthinkable.”

A report before councillors revealed how the lifespan of the pool was unknown.

Mr Salmond said a new pool, sited between the town’s sports centre and academy, would increase usage—currently 104,000 people visit each year—and bring massive benefits.

His motion was seconded by fellow town councillor David May, who said the new pool would eliminate the £1.642 million cost of maintaining the existing one over the next five years.

Mr May highlighted a council report stating the roof of the building and the pool’s substructure were in very poor condition.

He also snuffed out any suggestion that the council should instead look at building a pool in another location serving a wider population.

“It is a facility that is well used and we need to maintain a swimming pool in each of the burghs,” added Mr May.

Opposition leader Councillor Rob Murray said although he did not object to a new pool in Montrose, he questioned whether an eight-lane one was most appropriate.

“There is nothing in this paper saying the best type of pool in Montrose is an eight-lane pool,” he explained. “We have no designs, no full costings, but it has to be under construction by 2012.

“The clear concern is we are being bounced into something that should be on site by 2012.”

He called for a report to be prepared on the new pool, spotlighting design options and associated costs, and outlining the effects it would have on the council’s financial plan and projects that would have to be delayed.

Mr Murray also appealed for details to be provided on the financial effects of a much larger refurbishment or replacement programme covering all Angus pools, but lost out on a vote which went 16-12.

His stance was supported by follow SNP councillor Bill Middleton, who said, “The way this stands at the moment, it is being railroaded through the council.”

SNP councillor Alex King described the project as a major funding issue, bigger even than the construction in recent years of a new Montrose bridge.

“What we are concerned about is what is going to be taken out of the capital plan or delayed to ensure a swimming pool costing £10.6 million can be built in 2012,” he said.

Opposition councillor Frank Ellis questioned whether the pool project would mean funding not being available to tackle other issues in the county, such as flooding at Birkhill Park, adding, “I would hate to be told we could not do things because of one project.”

An attempt by SNP councillors Paul Valentine and Ralph Palmer to win a concession that details of the design and costings of the new pool be reported to committee as soon as possible was defeated.

Mr Valentine then teamed up with SNP counterpart and fellow Montrose councillor Sandy West with a call that public consultation over the type of pool for Montrose be carried out first, but it too went the same way in a vote.