HUNDREDS of people have signed a petition supporting the under-threat Yearsley Pool.

A petition on website Change.org, calling for the council to keep ups its financial support for the pool, has already attracted 1,300 signatures in just under two weeks.

The petition calls for City of York Council to "recognise the significance of York's only large, unique, historic pool and to provide an adequate level of revenue funding to keep Yearsley Pool open for at least the next five years."

Many people have left comments on the petitions about how important the pool is for their health and lifestyles, as well as its historic and social significance in York.

Campaigners Yearsley Pool Action Group are now planning an on-the-street push for more signatures on Saturday, when they will be on Parliament Street trying to drum up more support for their appeal.

The group has the support for Liberal Democrat members on City of York Council, who last month proposed an amendment to the council motion approving the Community Stadium plans which would have put the council's support for the pool into writing.

The amendment failed, meaning pool users now fear that a scheduled review of Yearsley Pool six months before the new pool in the stadium complex is due to open, could threaten its future.

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Keith Aspden said: "The fact that 1,300 have already signed this petition shows how strongly people feel about Yearsley Pool."

The council has previously announced its intention to stop the subsidy given to Yearsley Pool by 2016.

He said: "Of course it is right to look at ways to reduce the subsidy given to Yearsley and at ways to increase revenue, but it is wrong to threaten this unique pool with closure. Supporting plans for the new leisure facilities at Monks Cross should not mean that residents lose well-loved facilities in other parts of the city like Yearsley Pool."