Angus residents have said closure of a children’s attraction would cause a “dire situation” for their burgh.
The closure was agreed as part of the council’s February budget when the authority agreed a three-year savings/cuts package of £19 million.
Mark Arbuthnott, who runs Brechin Judo Club, told The Courier: “In Angus the only town without what the council define as a ‘destination area’ a large, well-maintained, attractive play area is Brechin.
“We have two very small and barely adequate doorstep parks, the only redeeming feature of which is our paddling pool, and the council propose to stop filling this.”
Long-awaited and major flood prevention works by the River South Esk were to result in the pool’s temporary closure, along with the rest of Inch Park.
Over 800 people have backed Keep Brechin’s Paddling Pool group on Facebook. Organisers have sought assurances the pool will remain open until work starts next January, and will reopen after completion.
Mr Arbuthnott added: “While we understand that the whole of Inch Park will have to close when the flood protection scheme gets under way, we do not accept closure of the pool prior to this.
“It seems entirely unfair that the council spend hundreds of thousands updating facilities throughout Angus, which are already adequate and superior to Brechin’s, yet they claim not to have a few thousand to keep open our much-loved paddling pool.
“We utterly dispute their disingenuous claim that it has cost £25,000 in unplanned maintenance in one year alone, and challenge them to provide evidence.”
He added: “We also suggest that closing the pool a relatively safe water facility will force children to paddle in the river, thus leaving Angus Council open to claims of negligence through failure to maintain that safe alternative, should any tragedy befall a child.”
The council’s communities convener, Donald Morrison, restated the council’s position, saying: “I understand that there is great affection for these paddling pools the comments and photographs posted online show that.
“Unfortunately, that isn’t the full picture. In making the decision to close the paddling pools at Kirriemuir and Brechin, the council had to take account of the total cost of operating and maintaining them.
“Every year extra money has to be found to deal with additional clean-ups, following vandalism such as broken glass in the pools and water contamination from nappies, rubbish and other unsavoury items.
“The council can no longer afford these annual operating costs.
“I understand that people are disappointed that the pools will not be refilled in 2014 and that the council will not be reopening them.
“But in these tough economic times we have to make some cuts to ensure we can afford to run critical frontline services.”