THE town council said it will do 'everything it can' to save a pool from closure.

It has been confirmed the pool at Sir John Deane's Sixth Form College, which had been open to the public, will permanently close.

The facility, which has been used by thousands of schoolchildren over the years to learn how to swim, closed during the pandemic and hasn't re-opened since.

The town's mayor, Cllr Sam Naylor, said the town council would do 'everything we can' to keep it open.

Speaking at its monthly meeting on Monday, April 4, Cllr Naylor said how the money raised to originally build the pool had been one of the first examples of crowd funding.

"I've always viewed the pool as a community asset," he said.

"I understand the predicament the school is in, but this is another example of a Northwich facility facing the axe.

"If we can, we should do all we can to maintain the pool.

"If it closes, it should be as a very last resort. We need to do everything we can to keep it."

Cllr Andrew Cooper explained how Christopher Atherton, the principal at Sir John Deane's, had briefed the councillors about the difficult decision.

"The equipment is old now and the pool costs a lot to keep running," he said.

"When it closed because of the pandemic, they were able to see exactly how much it was costing them to run it.

"As an example, they said it would cost at least £20k alone just to improve ventilation.

"They just don't think it is viable to re-open it."

Cllr Cooper said his main concern was the impact it would have on primary school children, who use the pool to learn how to swim.

"It is important primary school children have a place to learn to swim," he added.

"Our priority has to be to make sure they have access to be able to do this."

Cllr Kate Cernik warned: "Once you let things like this go, they don't come back."

Meanwhile, fellow councillor Bob Cernik said: "On average you need about 20 hours of lessons to learn how to swim.

"As a council, we need to explore with them about keeping it open.

"It's not acceptable that it's closing."

A spokesman for the college said: "It is with great regret that we have made the difficult decision to permanently close the swimming pool.

"This decision was made following a thorough review process that was overseen by governors and trustees."