CAMPAIGNERS have called for the swimming pools at York's Barbican Centre to stay open until it is known whether redevelopment plans have planning permission.

The Save Our Barbican (SOB) campaign claims it would be a "gross breach of trust" for the pools to be shut before the planning process is complete.

"We believe that any council that allows this to happen should hang their heads in shame," said Ernie Dickinson, one of the campaign leaders, Ernie Dickinson.

He said he feared that if the pool closed, it would never re-open, with City of York Council claiming that work needed on the pool had forced its closure. "We do not believe this would be true," he said.

"We believe the pool could operate normally at least until the end of the planning process, including a public inquiry if one is needed."

The council was expected to announce later today when it intends to shut the pool and the rest of the Barbican. It is thought the authority plans to shut the pools first, probably early in June, with "dry" facilities remaining open until the end of July.

Charlie Croft, assistant director of leisure and lifelong learning, said he could not comment on final arrangements until staff had been briefed this afternoon.

But in response to SOB's comments, he said he did expect the planning process to be completed by April 22, when the planning committee was likely to consider the application.

Asked what the authority would do if a public inquiry was called, or might still be called, by the end of May, potentially stalling the redevelopment for up to two years, he said councillors would "want to look at the implications if that happened."

But he was unable to say at this stage whether the pool would be kept open after all.

Updated: 12:25 Thursday, March 25, 2004