A NEW swimming pool and extended leisure centre for Monmouth could cost up to £7.4m.

Monmouthshire county councillors will be urged tomorrow (Thursday, July 27) to approve funding for the project, which was originally priced at £5.5m for a replacement pool in 2014.

The new price tag would include the siting of a temporary 700m sq structure to replace the sports hall while work is ongoing, which is set to cost up to £415,430.

Monmouth has been without a public pool since March 2016 after the old structure was pulled down to make way for the new Monmouth Comprehensive School building.

A report to Monmouthshire’s full council puts forward four alternative strategies to building the new facilities, including closing all sports facilities while the work is done, and only providing a pool when the school building work is completed, meaning a three and a half year wait since the demolition of the old facility.

Officers recommend the temporary sports hall scheme while work gets under way on building a five-lane 25m pool, a 50 to 60-station fitness facility and a large adventure play facility with a café.

The increased figure of £6.98m for the main build is down to “price inflation” and “additional costs”, they add, including IT requirements and out-of-hours security.

Closure of the sports hall would hit PE lessons and disrupt school exam timetabling unless a temporary facility is provided beforehand, councillors will be told.

Work on the project is projected to start this October and is expected to take 55 weeks, although part of the site could be reopened after 31 weeks.

The price will partly be met by a £1.9m grant from the Welsh Government and £985,000 in Section 106 funding from the town’s Wonastow Road housing development.

Upgraded leisure centre facilities are set to include a small spa, sensory and toning rooms and spin and dance studios.

Monmouthshire’s planning committee agreed to the leisure centre plan in April, despite some opposition.

Cllr Debby Blakeborough claimed a six-lane pool was originally proposed and said: “Monmouthshire started out with aspirations of an Olympic pool and ended up with a paddling pool.”

The original proposals included the replacement of the pool within the new school, but the current plan sites the sports hall in the main school building, with the pool in the leisure centre where the current sports hall is.