A much-needed 3m swimming pool planned for an Oxford housing estate has moved a step closer to being built.

Oxford City Council has gained control of the land it needs for the pool in Barton which means it can now apply for Lottery funding.

It would be built at Bayswater Middle School in Bayswater Road, as part of a project to regenerate the area and provide leisure facilities. Oxfordshire County Council's education management sub-committee has agreed to lease the land to the city council for the scheme.

Education officers will make sure the pool does not clash with plans to amalgamate Barton Village School and Bayswater Middle School to create a primary school on the site.

The city council has earmarked 500,000 for the project.

It hopes to make up the rest with cash from the National Lottery, the county council and possibly a private leisure business.

Alex Hollingsworth, one of the city councillors for the area, said after the meeting: "This is excellent news. A swimming pool has been top of the wish list for the people of Barton since the late 1960s."

Les Town, chairman of community group, the Barton Forum, said: "Everyone will be cheering this on because there has been a long struggle for this pool for many years. It will be a great asset for Barton and Headington."

Wally Ryde, head of Bayswater Middle School, said the school council was going to give some of the money it had raised over the past year to the pool fund.