AN opponent of plans for a multi-million pound development is convinced that an Olympic-size pool could be built for a fraction of the price quoted by councillors.

But developers behind the £55m plan say Chris McGlade's sums do not add up for the Redcar Coatham Enclosure.

According to Mr McGlade, Fox Pools UK can supply materials for £150,000 and with a locally-recruited workforce, the facility would cost "a couple of million pounds".

Mr McGlade says a 50-metre six-lane Olympic-size pool would cost a fraction of the £7.5m assigned to the pool as part of the plan by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

In a direct response to Mr McGlade's figures, Redcar and Cleveland council said that when it approached Fox Pools UK, a spokesman accepted the cost of materials for the pool only would be nearer £200,000 and £250,000 and said the estimate did not take into account excavation and building work.

A council spokesman said the entire leisure centre package for the enclosure would cost about £7.5m.

They said it would cost £909,000 for the pool hall, £422,000 for wet changing and £635,000 for the leisure pool.

Persimmon Homes' regional projects director Peter Jordan said: "Simply plucking numbers out of the air is not what this development is about."