SWIMMERS will have to wait an extra fortnight before they can get back in the water at a York swimming pool.

Unexpected delays to repairs and maintenance of the Yearsley Pool mean it will not be able to reopen on Monday as planned. It will now reopen its doors at 7am on Monday, May 22.

The project involves inspecting and replacing corroded water pipes and also installing a pool hoist and improving toilet and changing facilities for disabled swimmers, as well as routine maintenance.

The pool shut down on April 10, leaving York with only one functioning council-run pool, the Edmund Wilson at Acomb.

The council is also hoping to build a new pool on the Oaklands School site to replace the Edmund Wilson Baths, or alternatively to refurbish the Edmund Wilson building.

The city's other municipal pool, at the Barbican, closed in 2004, and the council announced earlier this year it was abandoning plans to build a replacement community swimming pool nearby. It said it was, instead, hoping that a new pool could be built in the medium to long-term in eastern York, in partnership with York University. The Barbican pool is still full of treated water, but the council said recently that it was finally set to be demolished shortly.

The shutdown of the outdated Yearsley pool, which is situated near the Nestl factory, is just the latest of a series of closures. It shut for a month in 2004 because of problems with the heating system and roof, and for another week last year for further repairs to the roof.

The council's shadow leisure spokesman, Coun David Evans, said: "It's crazy. I know people who now travel to Tadcaster or Leeds to swim because of the lack of facilities in York."

The Labour councillor warned that if the council decided to refurbish the Edmund Wilson, it would have to shut down during the work, and any further closures of Yearsley would then leave the city without a single council pool.

The Liberal Democrat's executive member for leisure, Coun Keith Orrell, was unavailable for comment, but Charlie Croft, pictured, the council's assistant director of lifelong learning and culture, said the Yearsley closure was "unfortunately unavoidable" for the work which needed to be done.

"We have tried to close the pool at a time which is most convenient for the swimming community of York, but regret the inconvenience for the loyal and regular swimmers at Yearsley," he added.

Updated: 09:37 Wednesday, May 03, 2006