A COUNCIL has rejected claims by an MP that it is not doing enough to ensure a swimming pool is built in Redcar.

Persimmon Homes, which is to redevelop the 35-acre Coatham Enclosure in partnership with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, hopes to include a swimming pool in the development.

But Redcar MP Vera Baird, who is the president of Get Redcar A Swimming Pool (Grasp), said the council had written to her saying there would be a funding gap on the project which would put the inclusion of a pool in doubt.

"It is absurd that a town the size of Redcar does not have a swimming pool," said Mrs Baird.

"If the pool is not the first priority in this development then the people of Redcar will feel totally let down by the council."

She said Grasp's committee members were not impressed by the present proposals for a leisure pool, which did not specify a swimming pool.

But Vera Moody, cabinet member for economic development, said the council had given a firm direction to the developers that its first priority in the development was to have a swimming facility.

Simon Usher, from Persimmon, said: "In our opinion, nothing has changed about the commitment to have a pool for Redcar, but Persimmon does not profess to know what the right solution is. That is why we have had the consultation."

The public can book ten-minute one-to-one sessions for an explanation of the proposals for the Coatham Enclosure with a council officer in Redcar library on Thursday, December 11, between 2pm and 5pm, by contacting the library's inquiries desk.

The exhibition ends next Monday.