Cornwall councillors have called for health organisations to provide funding which would allow a hydrotherapy pool to reopen.

The facility at Polkyth Leisure Centre in St Austell has been closed since before the covid-19 pandemic.

It was one of several leisure facilities that operator GLL told Cornwall Council it could no longer afford to run and was earmarked for permanent closure.

Whilst several of the other threatened facilities – Wadebridge and Saltash leisure centres – have been saved, the hydrotherapy pool remains shut. Cornwall Council officers told a meeting of the council’s customer and support services overview and scrutiny committee they had been unable to source any alternative funding to re-open the pool or an alternative operator to take it on.

As a result they said it was unlikely that facility would re-open.

The pool had originally been provided through fund-raising and had been used by people who needed hydrotherapy as part of their medical treatment.

It is fitted with hoists and has accessible changing rooms for those who use it.

Independent councillor Julian German has been campaigning to get the pool re-opened, saying it is a vital facility for those who need it.

He said whilst there are other facilities nearby, at the Merlin Centre at Hewas Water and at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske, these are already used to capacity.

He said elsewhere in the country such facilities had been provided funding through the local integrated care systems and said this should be looked at as a possible option in Cornwall.

Cllr German said: “The Treliske hydrotherapy pool is oversubscribed and before Polkyth closed that is where they would refer people if they had no spaces left. It (Polkyth) has more medical equipment, hoists and changing areas that other hydrotherapy pools in Cornwall don’t have.”

He said the council should be working with health organisations in Cornwall to secure funding for the pool. A recommendation that the council asks for assistance from the integrated care system was approved by the committee.

In a general update on leisure facilities in Cornwall the committee heard the Wadebridge Leisure Centre had been devolved to a local community group and was now running well.

The committee also heard that as part of the leisure strategy review the council would be carrying out a survey of all playing fields in Cornwall to assess what facilities are available. They were told that this could take around a year due to a need to assess seasonal differences for different sports and activities.