DEMONSTRATORS packed a West Devon Borough Council meeting this week to make a plea for public swimming sessions to be retained in Tavistock. The campaign is mounting to 'Save Meadowlands Swimming Pool', after the council said it had problems with the long-term funding of the pool and would be looking at various options to address swimming facilities in the future — one of the options is to put money into the Olympic Legacy Pool project at Kelly College. More than 40 regular users of the pool attended the meeting of the full council on Tuesday, demanding a guarantee from councillors that all facilities now at Meadowlands will be available elsewhere, in the event of the regrettable closure of the town centre pool. Members of the community have expressed anger that the authority would consider putting public money into a private school facility out-of-town, and shut a public pool which was perfectly situated in the town centre, with all the amenities and services to hand. Meadowlands currently runs a multitude of sessions, from mother and toddler splash, swimming clubs and lessons to school swimming and 50+ sessions — but it costs the council £150,000 a year just to keep it going. Kelly College, which runs some public sessions in its 25-metre pool, recently told the Times that no official application had been made to the borough council toward the Kelly pool project, although there were options for a community user agreement if the council so wished. Jacky Rushall, member of the Meadowlands User Group representing 50+ Aquafit, said the community would like a clear indication of the council's views for the proposed facilities at Kelly College. Leader of the council Philip Sanders said people could be reassured that no member of the council underestimated the importance of the facilities at Meadowlands. He said in May 2015 there would be a new government and a new district council. West Devon Borough Council might not exist in the future as there might be a unitary authority, so what would happen in the future regarding services that local authorities did not have a statutory duty to provide was unknown. 'No decisions have been made about the future of Meadowlands at this time,' he said. 'I cannot guarantee that we can deliver all the services we currently provide in the future, but what I can promise is that whatever council is here after 2015, we will do the very best we can for the residents of West Devon. — that is what we stand for.' He said despite asking a lot of very direct questions to the leaders of the Kelly Pool project in a letter dated April 11, the council had not yet received a response. 'What we do know is that should the Olympic pool come to Tavistock, there is a potential risk to other pools in the town. One would assume that they would be looking at taking as much business as they can from the local population. 'At this stage we do not know if the pool will come to fruition and whether this council would wish to enter into dialogue with the people who will manage it.' He said public pools were expensive to run because of all the systems needed to keep them safe and clean and there was not sufficient income at the present time for the council to replace any equipment which was faulty or worn out. Pool user Diane Norton said Prime Minister David Cameron's legacy was Sport for All — and that was what Meadowlands provided. She said: 'This pool is invaluable to the young and the old. I have had heart surgery and I use this pool to keep me healthy. All the doctors' surgeries are supporting us in keeping Meadowlands Pool open and we would pay more for our sessions if we had to. 'If we did not have the pool to exercise in, we would be having physio and that would cost the NHS.'