CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save Temple Cowley Pools are questioning the validity of the facility’s refurbishment costs which have been branded uneconomic.

Oxford City Council says repairing the venue would be “throwing good money after bad”.

It appears determined set to sell off the site to help fund a new £16.8m swimming complex in Blackbird Leys.

But the Save Temple Cowley Pools group obtained a breakdown of the £2.6m maintenance backlog at the pool under a Freedom of Information request.

Campaign leader Nigel Gibson said it showed the work was not insurmountable and that many items were not essential.

He said work to repair a concrete pillar, that has been seen as one of the major structural defects, would cost £30,000 and the most expensive item was to replace the lighting system at a cost of £200,000.

Other costs included £3,000 to paint new lines on the car park and £5,000 on external landscaping.

Mr Gibson said: “There’s nothing on the list that will stop it running, nothing on the list that needs doing to stop it falling down at any moment.”

He added: “The pillar is the single biggest problem the council highlights.

“The council’s figure for fixing this is £30,000, why hasn’t this been done?”

Last week, council officers recommended a new pool should be built at Blackbird Leys with the rundown Temple Cowley pool site in Temple Road site sold to help finance the project – costed at £16.8m over 25 years.

Apart from the £2.6m maintenance backlog, the council said full refurbishment of the existing building to modern standards, and to give it a 25-year life, would cost £24.2m over 25 years.

An option to rebuild the pool on its present site was costed at £24m.

Both Temple Cowley options include compensation to Fusion, the company that runs city pools on the council’s behalf, for loss of income when the pool would be closed for rebuild or refurbishment.

The officers’ report said: “The project design team believe that refurbishing Temple Cowley Pools would not be economically viable and warn that this is a high risk option.

“Unless there was an extensive refurbishment, the majority of the work would be unseen and would bring little improvement in terms of circulation and customer experience, or comply with the latest guidance for leisure centre facility provision.

“They also believe this is a high risk option as it is likely that once works commence new layers of additional work would be uncovered, leading to difficult project and cost control.”

A city council spokesman said last night the pillar had not been fixed because there was no provision in the council’s budget for the work.

A decision on the future of the pool will be taken by the council’s executive board on Wednesday next week.