Councillors could be on the verge of committing Dartmouth taxpayers to a decade of debt to help build a £2.4m new indoor swimming pool – and then keep it running.

When they meet on Monday, the town councillors will be asked to agree to finding £150,000 towards the building costs of the new pool it is planned to construct next to the town's leisure centre at Townstal.

More controversially, they will also be asked to commit the town to shelling out up to £10,000 a year for the next 10 years towards the running costs of the pool.

The recommendation was made at last week's town council finance committee, even though most of the councillors had not yet even seen the swimming pool trust's detailed business plan showing just how they will keep a completed pool afloat.

Meanwhile, finance committee chairman Francis Hawke revealed the council could find the £150,000 for building costs by selling off its own Guildhall headquarters and the extra income it is now getting from its new-look market complex.

It could also find the cash by taking out a low-interest public finance loan, which is likely to commit the town to finding something like £17,000 a year for the next 10 years.

The swimming pool trust has been working on the pool project for years – with pledges of £1.5m from Devon County Council and another £400,000 from South Hams Council. The town council had also said it was willing to look at pumping up to £250,000 into the pool project – although that was thought to have always been meant to cover building costs.

The council pledge will almost double the £134,000 which makes up the entire council budget for the coming financial year and costs average taxpayers around £46 a year.

Cllr Hawke said that he, along with mayor Paul Allen and deputy finance committee chairman Chris Smith, had seen the swimming pool trust business plan which has been put together by the National Swimming Pool Association.

The rest of the town councillors were due to meet with trustees this week to take a look at it.

Cllr Hawke questioned whether the town council could afford to turn down what he described as a 'gift' of a £2m swimming pool.

'The council has decided the Guildhall is surplus to requirement. Let's get on and market it and sell it off. We will have income from that. We have got to crack on and make these decisions,' he said.

'We are generating extra income from the new units at the market square. We could pay the money over three instalments. A public works loan is another possibility that we will consider.'

He admitted that some councillors believed that contributing towards the running costs of the pool had not been 'on offer' but he pointed out the council is already paying £4,000 a year towards the outdoor pool at Townstal.