GAFFE SEES OVAL GO OUT FOR A SIX

9:00am Wednesday 21st May 2008

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MULTI-million pound work on a Wirral leisure centre came to a halt when the council realised its newly refurbished swimming pool was missing a lane.

Horrified council officers called an immediate halt to the £2.4m refurbishment of The Oval, Bebington, when it was spotted that the main pool now had only five lanes instead of its previous six.

“It’s hold our hands up time. A mistake has been made and we’re trying to find out exactly how.”

Bob Moon

Private contractor Winstanleys - who told the Globe "this is purely a council mistake, have no doubt about that" - will now rip up the black lane-marking tiles and re-lay the pool with the correct six lanes.

The retiling alone, which has yet to start, will take at least a week with "curing" expected to last a further three weeks.

The cost has yet to be ascertained but is expected to run into thousands, and will delay the reopening of The Oval - originally scheduled to be ready for business in March - by at least three months.

Wirral Council closed the centre in May last year for the progamme to improve the pool, changing facilities and reception areas.

Questions were raised earlier this year when it failed to open on schedule, which the council put down to unforseen delays.

But now the embarrassing gaffe over the lane markings can be properly revealed.

Councillor Bob Moon, the local authority's cabinet member for culture, tourism and leisure, said: "It's hold our hands up time. A mistake has been made and we're trying to find out exactly how."

It's understood the council, when originally planning the refurbishment programme, approached the Amateur Swim-ming Association for advice on lane width.

"The ASA then gave them the advice they were asking for and the council went away and drew up the specification plans," said Cllr Moon.

"But it now appears that the ASA's advice was based on a new swimming pool and not one that was being refurbished.

"At some very late stage - very recently - it occurred to one of our officers that we only had five lanes and that the local swimming clubs would be very robust about the need to have the correct six.

"A decision had to be made quickly, as if we'd tried to carry out the work later it would be a lot more expensive.

"So the work was stopped and the contractors will now rip up the tiling from the pool floor and replace it.

"We don't know how much this will cost at the moment - no doubt we'll hear about that at the end. What we do know is that there has been some kind of misinterpretation of the specification, and it's definitely hold our hands up time.

"Something's gone wrong, there's definitely been a mistake, and now we have to find out why."

A spokesman for contractors Winstanley, based in Rainford, near St Helens, said: "The drawing specifications for the pool given to us by the council quite clearly show five lanes. This is purely a council mistake - have no doubt about that.

"As regards to any question of costs, we are still in negotiation with Wirral Council and so for commercial reasons would be unable to comment on that."

When the Globe asked the council if it had made a mistake, a spokesman verbally replied: "Yes".

But in a written statement, it would only comment: "While this refurbishment work has been going on issues did arise concerning new guidance from the ASA about lane-size and configuration. Addressing these issues has caused regrettable delays to the project and has required some remedial action to be taken.

"However, work is now at an advanced stage and we look forward to the pool and the sports centre as a whole reopening very soon."

Yobs smashed windows at Leasowe Recreation Centre at the weekend, meaning both pools had to be drained in order to check that they were clear of glass and debris.