THE people of Selby will keep their leisure facilities – even if the fire-ravaged Abbey Leisure Centre has to be torn down and rebuilt.

Selby District Council leader Mark Crane assured residents that the full range of facilities will return to the site following Tuesday’s fire, but said it was 50/50 at the moment as to whether the building would have to be demolished and rebuilt.

He said: “I honestly don’t know if it can be saved. From the people I have spoken to, some experts say it can be saved and others say it can’t.

“But the leisure centre will remain where it is and will remain a sports hall, swimming and gym facility.”

Coun Crane also said the council was trying to re-deploy affected staff throughout the Selby area and said they would continue to be paid through insurance policies taken out by Wigan Leisure Culture Trust, which runs the Scott Road centre.

The fire is thought to have started in the sauna or steam room of the building at about 6.30am on Tuesday. The fire blazed for more than four hours and destroyed the gym area, much of the interior of the building, the roof and swimming pool.

Firefighters are expected to visit the site again today to check for hot spots. Crews from York and Selby were again called to the site in the early hours of yesterday following reports of smoke coming from the roof of the building.

Meanwhile, a bride-to-be who was due to have her wedding reception at the leisure centre in May said she had been left “heartbroken”.

Lydia Chilton is due to marry Byron Ivey, 31, at St James’s Church in Selby and had planned to celebrate in the evening at the leisure centre with friends and family.

Miss Chilton, who lives opposite the leisure centre and saw the fire, said she has had “the biggest run of bad luck recently” after both her mum and Bryon’s mother fell ill.

As Mr Ivey’s mother is recovering from treatment for throat cancer and Lydia’s mother is recovering from a knee replacement, the couple have already had to change the wedding venue once as their previous choice did not have any ground floor space, and neither parent could manage the stairs.

The couple paid the leisure centre for the reception on Monday – only 14 hours before the fire broke out. They are now facing a wait to see when they will get their money back.

“It has just been one thing after another,” said Lydia, 38.

“We had already told all guests that we have had to change the venue once and now we will have to again – except time is running out and we do not know somewhere suitable where we can have the reception.”

Lydia said: “I just thought: ‘oh no, not another thing’. I was heartbroken as I sat and watched it burn.”