A SCHOOL head teacher has thrown his weight behind proposals to revamp swimming facilities in the west of York.

David Ellis, Oaklands School head teacher and soon-to-be head of the city's new high school, has urged councillors not to use their cash to refurbish Edmund Wilson Pool.

The Press revealed this week that a public consultation has been launched into how City of York Council chiefs should spend £4 million raised from the sale of the Barbican Centre, which will have no public pool when it is redeveloped.

They will be asked whether they want the cash to be used to refurbish Edmund Wilson Pool or to build a replacement pool alongside the new sports centre at Oaklands - which is a specialist sports college.

Mr Ellis said: "It would be a great shame if swimming was lost from this part of the city for a year, which is effectively what would happen if they followed the refurbishment model.

"If that did happen then Yearsley would be the nearest pool for our kids and members of the local community and I think it highly unlikely people would travel that distance."

The Oaklands scheme would provide a new five-lane 25 metre swimming pool and learner pool, a new gym that would be double the size of the gym at Edmund Wilson, and a crche.

It would cost £5 million, but council chiefs say the extra £1 million would be funded by efficiency savings due to having all the facilities on one site. It would also include more eco-friendly facilities.

Plans to refurbish the existing pool at Edmund Wilson include a new entrance lobby with lift, revamped changing rooms, repairs to the pool and the gym returned to the first floor.

The Edmund Wilson plan would mean the pool would be closed for nearly a year during refurbishment, leaving only Yearlsey Pool and Waterworld, in Huntington, open to the public.

Both options would be subject to planning permission once detailed designs had been drawn up.

More than 37,000 homes in the west of the city will be sent questionnaires.

Yesterday, The Press reported that opposition labour councillors labelled the consultation a "stitch-up".

But Coun Keith Orrell, executive member for leisure, defended the survey, saying: "I think to say that consulting 37,000 homes is limited is bizarre. This is a very wide consultation of residents who may wish to use a pool in that part of the city."

The surveys will be sent to homes in the rural west, Holgate, Acomb, Dringhouses and Woodthorpe, and Westfield wards. Residents from across the city can also submit their views online at www.york.gov.uk.

Two public meetings will be held to discuss the plans at Oaklands on November 28 at 12.30pm and 7pm. More information is on display at Edmund Wilson Pool and Oaklands.

The deadline for responses is December 5.