A popular North Yorkshire swimming pool will be closed to the public to accomodate the £350,000 installation of new equipment.

Northallerton Leisure Centre's swimming pool will be closing on June 3 while a £350,000 air handling unit is installed to help cut energy costs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Contractors will move indoors on this date and the pool will be drained, while the sauna will also close.

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Work on the project is expected to be complete with the pool reopening July 17.

The unit will circulate air throughout the building to provide an optimum environment for the centre’s wide range of activities, while also providing energy savings and contributing towards efforts to reduce emissions.

North Yorkshire Council’s Executive Member for Leisure, Councillor Simon Myers, said: “We apologise for the inconvenience the closure of the pool will cause but it is essential we do this update on the facility.  

“Making our leisure centres greener is an important priority for the council. As we carry out essential building upgrades, we must explore opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint to help to meet our net zero targets.”

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The Leisure Centre at Stone Cross has already benefited from £4.7 million in funding from the Government awarded to reduce carbon emissions in four centres – Stokesley, Bedale, Thirsk and Northallerton.

This money was spent on new heat pumps, solar panels, LED lights and other infrastructure, which saw emissions drop by 57 per cent.

The former Hambleton District Council was awarded the £4.7 million grant from the Government as part of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme launched by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and delivered by private company, Salix.