IT'S splash off for Dartmouth's long-awaited indoor community swimming pool. After more than a decade in the pipeline, work on the town's £2.1m-plus pool complex is expected to begin this October. Pool trustees have obtained a ruling from the Inland Revenue to reclaim a tax bill of £400,000. This means that all the cash raised for the project can now be spent on the 25-metre pool. And subject to South Hams Council planning approval, the leisure facility could be up and running by the end of next year. Members of the pool trust met a representative from Kier Construction, architects and engineers at the Flavel on Wednesday to work out a timetable for the construction project after learning they would be able to reclaim VAT from the tax man. 'It's wonderful news,' said jubilant trustee George Hardy, who has been driving the latest phase of the development. 'The pool has been so long coming and many people doubted it would ever come or fruition, but at last we are about to deliver what the community has hoped for and worked so hard to bring about.' After the meeting, the trustees said that, subject to agreement from South Hams Council, work might begin on site as early as October, with completion in the autumn 2015. And the scheme will include a learner pool alongside the main four-lane swimming pool. Planning permission has already been granted for a new pool complex to be built next to the town's leisure centre at Townstall and it is hoped the amended proposals that will now have to be submitted for a change of design will be approved.

For the full story see this week's Dartmouth Chronicle