HADLEIGH'S ageing swimming pool is to be fitted with a new £11,000 spa bath, despite the pool's coming to the end of its natural life.Babergh District Council, the pool's sole trustee, has already agreed that the pool, built in the 1970s, will eventually be demolished and a new one built near the town's leisure centre.

HADLEIGH'S ageing swimming pool is to be fitted with a new £11,000 spa bath, despite the pool's coming to the end of its natural life.

Babergh District Council, the pool's sole trustee, has already agreed that the pool, built in the 1970s, will eventually be demolished and a new one built near the town's leisure centre.

However, until a feasibility study of the new site is complete and the council has found a way of raising the estimated £2.5 million needed to build a new pool, councillors have agreed the existing pool in Stonehouse Road should continue to provide a full range of services.

Now it has been discovered that the 14 year-old spa bath is leaking, beyond repair and has lasted well beyond its expected life of 10 years.

Members of the council's strategy committee were due to be asked today to agree to replace the spa bath on the grounds that it is a well-used facility, particularly among elderly people, and its loss could reduce custom at the pool.