Wallingford's Riverside Park outdoor pools and campsite complex will remain shut, despite a campaign to get it re-opened.

Members of South Oxfordshire District Council decided it was not worth repairing flood damage caused to the paddling and swimming pools over the winter.

A council report discussed by the cabinet on June 5, warned that re-opening the pool this year could cost £63,647.

Wallingford residents and tourists began protesting in May when council officers decided to shut the pool without consulting councillors.

The wave of protests, which were reported in the Oxford Mail, prompted the council to make the issue an emergency item on the agenda of the meeting, asking councillors to vote on whether they should repair the pool and re-open the park in July.

They decided not to re-open the site, but agreed instead to launch a consultation into leisure facilities in Wallingford, which should be completed by mid-October.

As compensation for the closure, they agreed to offer free swimming at the pool in Berinsfield to anyone who travelled there by bus.

A group of mothers opposed to the continued closure of the Riverside Park staged a protest outside the council's office in Crowmarsh before the meeting.

Waving placards, they chanted slogans such as "Save our pools" and "Where has our paddling pool gone?"

Speaking before the meeting, Alison Brunning, 43, of The Sidings, Wallingford, said: "It is the first year my 12-year-old son can go down there on his own.

"He doesn't want to pay to go by bus to Berinsfield. It's an indoor pool and he would prefer to swim in the open air."

Also speaking before the meeting, protester Sally Davis, 56, of Allnatt Avenue, Wallingford, said: "I swam in that pool as a little girl and now my grandchildren use it."

Council leader Ann Ducker said: "I agree that this has been badly handled."

The Riverside Park complex could still get a reprieve if the council's scrutiny committee decides to examine the matter in more detail.