LONG-awaited plans to build a new outdoor swimming pool in St Neots have suffered a major setback. The trust that manages the former outdoor pool site in the town is to put the land back on the market after a deal with Huntingdonshire Regional College col

LONG-awaited plans to build a new outdoor swimming pool in St Neots have suffered a major setback.

The trust that manages the former outdoor pool site in the town is to put the land back on the market after a deal with Huntingdonshire Regional College collapsed.

HRC wanted to use the site off Huntingdon Street for a new campus, but that is no longer feasible due to a lack of funding.

The swimming pool trust was hoping to use the money from the sale of the land to provide a new outdoor pool.

According to the trust, if the land had been sold to HRC then a new outdoor pool could have been built in Riversmead within two years.

But chairman of the trust, Councillor Paul Ursell said they were now "back to square one" in terms of bringing an outdoor pool to the town.

He said: "It's a major setback. We now have to remarket the land. I'm confident that we can bring a pool to the town but we need to make sure we get the right price for the land and at the moment land prices are depressed."

Mayor, Cllr Gordon Thorpe, also a member of the trust, said: "It is frustrating. We have the land for a pool but we need the money to make it a reality."

He said the development would be more of a "splash/fun pool" for children to use.