CAMPAIGNERS fighting to keep Oxford's Peers Sports Centre open until September 2008 are making a final plea today.

The centre, including its swimming pool, is due to close on January 1 after Oxford City Council agreed to pull out of an agreement to run the county council-owned facility.

But that decision has been called in by opposition councillors who want to keep the doors open until September - when the buildings will be demolished as part of plans to turn Peers School into a City Academy.

Lord Mayor Bob Tanner will argue the city council should have given 12 months notice to quit under the terms of the original 60-year management deal, making the the January D-Day null and void.

Oxford City Council had planned to save £100,000 by closing the centre, but delays mean that saving has been reduced to £65,000.

Council finance bosses have said that keeping the centre open until September would cost an additional £200,000.

Labour councillor John Tanner sparked the call-in, supported by fellow Labour group councillors Ed Turner, Oscar van Nooijen and Bob Price.

Mr Tanner said: "We have looked at the agreement between the city council and the county council and there is a provision in there for 12 months notice from either side if they want to terminate it."

Mr Tanner said that notice had not been given and the facilities should remain open for both the school and the community until September.

"If the city council pulls out, the school cannot use the facilities unless alternative arrangements are made, particularly for the swimming pool.

"We will argue that if it has to stay open for the school, which it should, then it should be open for the community as well."

The campaign to save the sports centre has rumbled on since July, when closure plans were first announced.

New facilities, as part of the city academy plans, are set to be opened in 2010 but a present there is no plan for a swimming pool.

The issues is set to be discussed by the council's environment scrutiny committee today.