TODDLERS and young children in Rawtenstall have been left without anywhere in the area to swim for the last month.

The small pool at Marl Pits Leisure Centre is in need of a new filter and chemical cleaning system, which will cost Rossendale Council around £10,000 to replace.

Rossendale Leisure Trust, which runs Marl Pits, applied to the council for funding to pay for the new equipment when the old system broke and waited three weeks to be granted the money.

The new chemical dosing system and filter are expected to have been delivered and fitted in two weeks, and the pool to be up and running again.

Councillors and residents have questioned why it reached the point when the pool had to be out of action for so long and warned people might stop using the centre if they had to travel elsewhere.

Dad-of-two Andrew Rawlinson, who visits the baths twice a week, said he has had to travel to Blackburn Waves so his three-year-old son Samuel can swim.

He said: “The big pool at Marl Pits is too cold for Samuel, but is fine for his seven-year-old sister.

“You can see it on parents’ and babies’ faces that it’s just not warm enough for little ones.

“It’s frustrating because every time we’ve gone and asked when it will be fixed, there is another delay.

“It’s only a 20 minute drive to Blackburn from where we live and the facilities at Waves are great.

“If it wasn’t for wanting to put my expendable income back into Rossendale then we just go to Blackburn all the time.

”I’m very pleased to hear that we will be able to go to Marl Pits again in a fortnight though.”

Martin Kay, chief executive of the leisure trust, said: “There will be people with young children who have been affected, but unfortunately the dosing and filter aren’t things you can buy off a shelf. They are bespoke to the pool.

“Because of the amount it costs, we’ve had to go through a procurement process with the council and it has taken time.”

Coun Jimmy Eaton said: “I’ve been contacted by residents who want to be able to take their children to the pool and keep finding it closed.

“It’s the school holidays now and it’s no good for the kids to have no pool to go to.”