NANTWICH'S Brine Pool has narrowly lost out on its bid to have a sliding roof constructed after not being deemed a high enough priority by the borough council.

It was hoped that the £500,000 sliding roof would help reduce an 18-month wait for children's swimming lessons and an attempt to cut waiting times by allowing lessons to take place all year round.

But Nantwich Town Council clerk Keith Burton told the Guardian that the pool plans had narrowly failed in the council's 'priority waiting system' to be included in the capital receipt programme for the coming year.

"The proposal failed the 'priority waiting system', which operates by a large number of councillors looking at a number of schemes and giving them a priority rating, by just points," he said.

"However there is the possibility that it could move higher up the list of priorities if any others fall behind schedule or cannot go ahead."

Council leader Peter Kent gave even more hope that the project could still go ahead this year and explained that the capital revenue budget can increase throughout the year.

"It is well up on the reserve list, in actual fact it is the first reserve, so there's still a chance it could happen," he said.

"With the money from the transfer of the council houses and the sale of Leighton Park due to come in, the capital budget will be increased so we will have more money to spend on these projects, but we can't use that money until the cheque is cashed, so to speak.

"However if something else comes in which is rated as a higher priority then the pool will fall in the list, but it certainly doesn't mean that it is never going to happen," added Mr Kent.