Campaigners fighting to keep Abingdon's outdoor pool open have claimed that river drownings could increase if it is closed.

Organiser Paul Gustafson watches Rebecca Jenkins and Samantha Jenkins sign the petition to save the pool

The campaigners added that they were prepared to give the Vale of White Horse District Council one last chance to help with a business plan to keep the amenity open or they would "crank up the fight".

The Save The Outdoor Pool campaign (Stop) claimed that lives would be put at risk if the pool closed, as swimmers would be tempted to use the Thames instead.

But district council leader Jerry Patterson condemned the deaths claim as "scurrilous".

Stop activist Dr Peter Harbour said the council should have carried out a risk assessment into plans to close the Abbey Meadow pool. "The council is playing with lives," he said. "The pool must stay open or further deaths will occur."

Dr Harbour said he had spoken to two members of the Royal Life Saving Society who were worried about the effects the closure would have on safety.

"The pool must be saved because pools are much safer than rivers," he said. "Drowning is just one of the river risks."

Dr Harbour said 42 people drowned in the Thames in one year and he believed the figure would rise if the pool was shut.

Campaign leader Paul Gustafson said: "If we get a death in the river then the council could find itself facing a legal battle for failing to provide safe facilities. In Oxford river bathing places have been closed by the city council because of the risk from water-borne diseases."

Mr Gustafson said he was disappointed that the council rejected Stop's request for financial help towards drawing up a business plan.

"I would like to sit around the table with the council and seek a way forward," he said. "If not then we will have to crank up the fight."

Mr Patterson said: "The suggestion that not opening the pool will cause people to drown is absolutely scurrilous and I reject it outright.

"No risk assessment has been undertaken on the chances of someone drowning in the river because this has absolutely nothing to do with the outdoor pool.

"Does this suggestion mean that there should be outdoor pools at 500m intervals along the whole length of the Thames?"

Mr Patterson said the pool was open for 46 days last year, but to his knowledge there was no loss of life in the river.

He added: "Was this just good luck or does it show that people can be trusted to be responsible around open water?

"Unfortunate incidents will very occasionally happen, and reasonable precautions must be taken, but this has absolutely nothing to do with the outdoor pool. The pool campaigners should focus their efforts on finding backers for their plans to reopen the pool."

The closure of the pool, and the town's tourist office, will be discussed at a special town council meeting at 7pm on Monday.