Broken promises’ over a planned £9million leisure pool at Hutton Moor Leisure Centre have been slammed almost three years since the project was first announced.

The council first revealed ambitions for the pool – complete with slides, rides and waves – at the centre in March 2015, two months before local elections were due to take place.

But there has been little sign of progress on the project since, despite deputy leader Elfan Ap Rees telling the Mercury at the time the pool ‘could be open by spring next year (2016)’.

The authority’s councillor for Weston’s central ward, Mike Bell, believes the centre’s current swimming facility is ‘bursting 
at the seams’ and has hit out at the apparent lack of progress since the plans were first revealed.

Cllr Bell said: “There is nothing in the council’s forward plan document of decisions through to the summer of 2018.

“So three years on from the announcement of a new pool, just before the local elections, no progress appears to have been made.

“We were promised quick implementation, but it is another promise broken by the administration.

“Is this a pre-election pledge never to be delivered or must we wait for the 2019 elections before we see any action?

“Weston is a growing town and the pool at Hutton Moor is bursting at the seams.

“We need a new fun and leisure swimming pool to serve our community.

“The council totally failed at the Tropicana – are we to face a decade of waiting at Hutton Moor too?”

North Somerset Council has spent more than £2million on making improvements to the centre’s fitness facilities, including a two-storey gym extension, and insists a second pool continues to be part of its plans.

A council spokesman said: “A second pool continues to be looked at as part of the wider master planning and delivery proposals for the Weston Links and Hutton Moor area.

“This work is ongoing. Any proposals will be subject to consultation in due course.

“A £2.15million scheme to improve the range of fitness activities on offer at Hutton Moor has already been completed and 700 new members have joined as a result.”