AN AQUATIC sports centre could be built alongside Grimsby's new swimming pool on Cromwell Road as part of a future development on the site.
A working group will be set up to look into the viability of providing such a facility, which would cater for a range of underwater sports, including diving.
Council leader Chris Shaw proposed the idea at Thursday night's full council meeting, in response to a fresh plea from Conservative councillors to include diving boards in the new swimming pool.
Councillor Shaw (Lab, Sidney Sussex) said that it was too late to incorporate diving boards into the design for the new pool, as the project had already gone out to tender.
However, he told the meeting that diving boards could be included in a separate building as part of a second phase of development at the Cromwell Road site.
He said: "We have always said right from day one that we want to give better facilities to the people of North East Lincolnshire. We have always said there would be a phase two to this scheme."
In their motion, John Fenty (Con, Humberston and New Waltham) and Margaret Cracknell (Con, Haverstoe) called for a temporary halt on the swimming pool project to allow diving boards to be incorporated into the design.
Councillor Fenty said: "Do members want to be part of an administration which will be accused of shortchanging future generations? The people have spoken. They want a facility that will be like for like."
Councillor Mike Burnett (Lab, Croft Baker), the portfolio holder for tourism, leisure and culture, said that the new pool at Cromwell Road would be a big improvement on Scartho Baths and that the authority had never given up on the idea of having diving boards.
He added that the existing pool on Scartho Road no longer had a ten-metre board, only a one-metre and five-metre board.
Councillors Fenty and Cracknell accepted Councillor Shaw's invitation to join the working group.
It will also include Councillor Burnett, the portfolio holder for finance Darren Billard, and chairman of the tourism, leisure and culture scrutiny panel Terry Walker.
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