Pressure was mounting on city councillors today to spare York's Yearsley Pool.

York GP Dr Peter Burgess warned before a council meeting tonight that any attempt to close the pool was an attack on the "good health of the citizens of York".

Meanwhile, regular users - many elderly or infirm - launched a petition to save the pool. And York author Charles Whiting, who swims there daily, wrote calling on Sports Minister Kate Hoey to intervene. Growing concern over the pool comes as Liberal Democrat councillors called for crucial amendments to the current review of all public leisure facilities.

They want to ensure council staff are fully consulted, and they are demanding council bosses come up with fully-costed options - including one in which the Barbican and Yearsley pools are repaired and modernised. Leisure committee chairman Coun Bob Scrase insisted the council was simply considering all the options - and members of the public would be fully consulted before decisions were made.

The Evening Press revealed one option means closing both the Barbican and Yearsley pools and replacing them with a newly-built pool, possibly attached to a city centre school.

Mr Whiting, aged 73, of Clifton, said today: "It is the only pool in the north of York that's 50 metres in length. It was given to York by the Rowntree Family. Now here we are with a Labour council talking about closing a pool which was given to the poor, ordinary working-class man of York."

Dr Burgess, who runs a surgery in Whitby Drive, said he was encouraging patients to sign a petition when they visited his surgery.

He had used Yearsley Pool regularly for 30 years. "Swimming is the best possible exercise for everyone. Yearsley is a particularly good pool for exercise because of its length. If they (the city council) remove this facility they are indirectly affecting the good health of the citizens of York."

At the pool today Fiona Evans, 36, said she gave up work for health reasons, and swam daily for "pain management".

"It would devastate my life if they shut the pool," she said., "There are a lot other people who come here to get relief from pain, especially back problems."

Fiona has collected hundreds of signatures in support of keeping the pool open.

Darren Sutton, from Haxby, would also be disappointed if the pool closede.

"I've been coming here for 20 years," he said. "It would be a real shame to see it close."

Liberal Democrat opposition leader Coun Steve Galloway said the Labour-led review looked increasingly like a cost-cutting exercise, despite denials.

The leisure review will examine council-run sports halls, libraries, museums and even youth clubs.

Options include leasing sports centres to private companies, handing museums and the art gallery to charitable trusts, and closing or relocating branch libraries. Some youth clubs could close.

No detailed proposals have emerged, but officials will report back with a range of options.

Coun Scrase today pledged full and proper consultation.

On the Yearsley pool, he said the aim of the review was to improve opportunities for sport and other leisure activities, not reduce them.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.