CAMPAIGNERS in Redcar this week vowed to keep fighting for a new swimming pool - despite being told the town doesn't need one.

The Get Redcar a Swimming Pool (Grasp) group was told by consultants at a public meeting on Saturday that the borough already has more than enough pools for its population - at Eston, Loftus, Saltburn and Guisborough.

But Vera Baird, Grasp chairman and MP for Redcar, said that that would not deter campaigners from trying to get a new pool built in Redcar itself.

"This isn't going to be easy but this is when the fight really starts," she said.

The old Redcar pool was closed a few years ago when it became beyond economical repair. Since then swimmers have had to use other pools.

The campaigners say the real problem is for the town's schoolchildren who have to be bussed to swimming pools - a costly exercise which cuts down on the amount of time they spend in the pool.

PMP Consultants told Saturday's meeting that, according to Sport England recommendations, the borough of Redcar and Cleveland has twice as many pools as it needs and that a pool in Redcar would lose about £50,000 a year.

But it admitted that some of those pools could be coming to the end of their lives and that Redcar could be the best place to build a replacement.

"It was a positive meeting and we are keeping going with this campaign," said Mrs Baird. "There's huge demand for the pool, but financing it is difficult. Since Redcar pool closed a few years ago other pools have been built but we need one in Redcar, which is the biggest town and has the most visitors."

Grasp has asked Redcar and Cleveland Council to attend a public meeting in two months' time to assess various options for a new pool, including a public/private partnership.

The group's favoured option is for a pool to be built as part of a new development at Redcar and Cleveland College, on Corporation Road