Wallingford Town Council has offered to pay £25,000 to get the Riverside Park swimming pool and campsite complex re-opened in July.

Wallingford Riverside Park swimming pool is in urgent need of repair

The complex was shut earlier this year.

South Oxfordshire District Council decided on June 5 it was not worth spending £45,000 on repairs to get the facility open this year.

The town council is offering to pay the £25,000 bill which will be left after the authority claims £19,000 insurance.

Mayor Betty Atkins said: "The town council has listened to people in this town and the surrounding area and offered the money, which will have to come out of cash allocated for other things."

SODC welcomed the approach, but has said it wants to continue negotiating with SOLL, which runs the swimming pool.

Council leader Ann Ducker said: "The town council are offering us some money, but it had strings attached, and I wasn't clear what the strings were."

Protesters, who have vowed to carry on calling for the pool's re-opening, gathered as SODC met on June 10. Some wore swimming costumes. But the council ruled out an urgent meeting of the Riverside Consultative Group, a body that used to advise SODC on the running of the park.

Councillor member Denis Strange said: "I'm disappointed fellow councillors for the Wallingford area did not vote for what I consider was a straightforward motion."

Other outdoor pools in Oxfordshire have had to close recently. Hinksey Pool in Oxford re-opened on June 6 after a week-long closure because tiles along the edge had shifted. Banbury Pool is still closed because children suffered cuts to their feet. Carterton Pool is set to close because costs are too high.