CAMPAIGNERS fighting to have the training pool at Boston's Geoff Moulder Leisure Centre re-opened are to get their wish.

More than 2,500 people signed a petition against the decision to close the pool last year while hundreds of protesters took to the streets for a march demanding it re-open in October.

Boston Borough Council agreed to rethink the closure more than three months ago and yesterday (Tuesday) it finally confirmed the u-turn when it announced the awarding of the contract to run the centre and the Princess Royal Sports Arena (PRSA).

A spokesman for the council told the Target the decision would lead to the training pool coming back into use as part of a £2.2 million refurbishment scheme at the centre in Rowley Road.

He declined to name the contractor but described it as "one of the country's leading leisure companies" and stated the identity would be revealed in the next few days once the losing bidders had been informed.

The spokesman said there was currently no timescale for when the refurbishment work would begin but stressed there would always be a pool open as once the construction "impacted" on the main pool the training pool would be brought back into use.

However, he confirmed only one pool would be open at a time until the revamp was completed.

He added council staff at the Geoff Moulder and the PRSA would transfer to the new organisation and the deal would save the authority £154,000 a year.

Boston and District Swimming Club has been among the leaders in the campaign to re-open the training pool and head coach Ian Wells slammed the continued delay in it returning to use.

He said: "We want the pool re-opening as soon as possible and we really aren't happy with the time all this is taking.

"Our top performing members such as Ben Pogson who had Olympic aspirations are dropping out of the sport because of the training problems.

"Having lanes cordoned off next to the public in the main pool is just not good enough for their standard.

"We are also very concerned about who the private contractor is as we have heard if it is the same company who run Grantham pool they will try and stop our swimming lessons.

"These lessons are a main source of funding for the club and if they try and stop them we will fight them."