IT has stood full of water - but empty of swimmers - for almost two years.

But City of York Council said today it expected developers to finally begin demolition of the former Barbican swimming pool shortly, to clear the site for its re-development.

Developers Barbican Venture (York) Ltd revealed they were now going back to their original plans for a 135-bedroom hotel and 240 apartments, which have planning permission.

The company revealed earlier this year that it was considering an alternative scheme involving less apartments but building a care home instead, plus a slightly larger hotel with a swimming pool.

However, this would have required a fresh planning application. Spokesman Andrew Foster said it was nearing completion for the purchase of the site and was reverting to the original scheme.

He said legal negotiations should be completed within weeks, and the developers hoped to be on site immediately on completion. Asked if the hotel would still have a pool, he said it would have a "leisure suite" which would be open for public use.

A report by leisure boss Charlie Croft said council "heads of terms" had been agreed with Barbican Venture, and legal contracts drafted, and it was expected the sale of the site would be completed by the middle of May.

The pool was shut down in June, 2004, but The Press reported later that year how it was a case of water, water everywhere, but not a drop to swim in.

The council said the "ghost pool" had been left full of treated water for health and safety reasons.

It said it was better not to "pull the plug" and let the water out until the demolition was ready to start, as the pressure from the water helped to prevent the sides of the pool disintegrating and tiles falling off. The water is still there today.

The council announced earlier this year it was going ahead with the sale of the site, but abandoning plans to build a replacement pool on the other side of Kent Street from the Barbican, because the value of the Barbican land had fallen in the wake of lengthy planning and legal delays.

It said it was hoping instead to work in partnership with the university to create a new pool in eastern York.

Mr Croft said the university had now agreed that once the first phase of the public inquiry into the campus expansion was completed, it would be in a position to establish a partnership board to take the project forward.

"The first step will be the development of a memorandum of agreement," he said.

He said the pool should be accessible to all York citizens as well as members of the university, and should be financially self-sufficient.

Updated: 10:47 Friday, April 28, 2006