Auchinleck swimming pool is being given a stay of execution after councillors agreed to give it a chance to prove locals will use it.
Questions have surrounded the future of Auchinleck Leisure Centre after the closure of the adjoining Auchinleck Academy and opening of the Barony Campus in Cumnock.
A plan by East Ayrshire Leisure to scrap the swimming pool and other indoor activities and create an outdoor sports academy was put to councillors last week.
Councillor Claire Leitch is concerned that not enough has been done to assess the potential for keeping a pool in the town.
Now councillors have agreed to halt the plans in order to engage with the community and will even examine whether the centre could be used as a CORE renewable energy 'demonstrator project' to offset costs of heating the pool.
Councillor Leitch was keen to say that East Ayrshire Leisure's plan for the outdoor facilities was good.
But she said that the community had been unaware of the pool's availability, having been restricted to closed swimming programmes and swimming clubs for many years.
Anekke Freel, of East Ayrshire Leisure, had indicated that the usage of the pool had been significantly lower than its other pool during the last year and a half, at around 60 per cent down on pre-covid figures.
But Cllr Leitch pointed out that there were people in the community who had said that they didn't know the pool was open again.
The major issue, according to Ms Freel, was the loss of the two main swimming clubs who had been the prime users of the pool alongside the formal swimming programme.
She told councillors that one had disbanded formally while the other had simply not returned.
Cllr Leitch said that she believed it would be a worthwhile exercise to carry out a campaign to let the people of Auchinleck know that pool was open to the public.
She said afterwards: "My concern was when they talked about the usage of the pool, they were talking about the usage by groups.
"If they were using that to say usage is low, that's alluding to the fact that there was no public swimming available.
"There has never been public swimming available at Auchinleck. If they are talking about usage then I will like to see them establish more groups or put a plea out to the community."
East Ayrshire Leisure indicated they had said that the public were welcome to use the pool via social media, but Cllr Leitch said that she would like to see a more open message to the community.
She added that the pool opening was limited, which also made it hard to determine how many people would use the facilities at other times in the week.
"They also mentioned that there was a problem with getting lifeguards," she added, "so I would like to see a drive to get some new lifeguards."
The cost of heating pools was raised, with the possibility of developing a renewable energy supply should the pool stay open.
Cllr Leitch added: "I was born and raised in Auchinleck. To have somewhere like the swimming pool open to the public would be amazing. I don't think they should be shutting facilities before we have even looked at the opportunity."
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