RESIDENTS will gather in protest this weekend to voice their anger at a decision to demolish a much-loved swimming pool.

The Save Millom pool group will hold a peaceful protest on Millom School field on Saturday after bosses from Cumbria County Council announced they would demolish the building.

Councillors in the area have lent their support to a campaign to renovate the pool before building a new one.

In a joint statement, Labour councillors Bob Kelly and Denise Burness, who represent the Newton and Holborn Hill wards on Copeland Borough Council, said the county council's handling of the situation was "unacceptable".

It said: "We fully understand the financial pressures that have been placed on Cumbria County Council.

"What we cannot condone is the way the county council has treated the local community group which has been fighting to preserve our swimming pool, which is so necessary in a coastal area with dangerous currents facing anyone who is not a skilled swimmer.

"The community group had to fight tremendous resistance to get access to the pool to assess its repair needs from which it finally ascertained that the cost of repair was only marginally more than the cost of demolition. All the group asked for was the opportunity to meet representatives of CCC to discuss possible options.

"We find this totally unacceptable for an elected authority to act in this cavalier way and fully support the community group in its fight to reopen Millom Pool to display that a local pool can be made financially viable."

The protest will be held at 10am on Saturday (September 15) and will be attended by the mayor of Copeland Mike Starkie and Millom mayor Jane Micklethwaite.

A spokeswoman from the Save Millom Pool group said: "We have had enough and we are making a stand."

She said the group had not accepted the county council's decision to demolish the facility, based on the Millom School site, and said more protests would take place.