PLANS for a new swimming pool in Minehead appear to be dead in the water after a feasibility study found it may not be commercially viable.

Minehead has been without a publicly-operated swimming pool since West Somerset Council approved the closure of the Aquasplash facility on Seaward Way in 2008.

Somerset West and Taunton Council set aside land on Seaward Way in January 2022 for a potential new pool, and a feasibility study was commissioned in late-2022 using £10,000 from the Hinkley Point C community mitigation fund.

Somerset Council – which replaced the district council in April – has now confirmed that the pool is “not being pursued” since the study did not conclude that it would definitely be able to pay for itself.

The study was undertaken by APS Pool Contracting Ltd., a Glastonbury-based company which has more than 30 years of designing and maintaining swimming pools.

The council has not confirmed whether the entire £10,000 was spent on the study, stating it has “no details of the cost”.

Officers have confirmed, however, that the study will not be made public since the project is not being taken forward at this time.

A spokesman said: “It is our understanding that the idea is not being pursued. The study was not definitive regarding viability.”

Since the closure of the Aquasplash site, Minehead residents have had to rely on the community-run pool at St. Michael’s Church of England First School (which is run as a charitable venture by the school), or pay to use the Butlin’s facilities on Warren Road.

The nearest publicly-run swimming pools to the town are in Taunton and Wellington (run by the council’s leisure partner Everyone Active) – or in Tiverton, over the border in Devon.

The council-owned land lies at the southern end of Seaward Way, bordered by residential development leading off from Mallard Road and the busy A39 Bircham Road – not far from the £1m active travel route to Dunster which was recently completed.

Reports on social media indicated that a second site,the Minehead Recreation Ground on Irnham Road, was also considered – but this has not been confirmed by council officers.

The council said it did not have the means to fund the building of a new lido or indoor swimming pool in house, and that any new facility would require significant capital funding or on top of contributions from local housing developments or lottery funding.

A spokesman said: “The council does not intend to build a pool ‘in-house’, but has set aside land in order that a third party might do so.

“Any pool would need a number of funding sources. We have set aside land but no capital funding exists for the project.

“It is possible that Section 106 funding or the community infrastructure levy (CIL) might be used to part-fund a facility, but significant external funding would be needed.”