Ceredigion County Council will acquire the soon to be closed Cardigan swimming pool, but will not re-open and operate it, a report has confirmed, with some school pupils set to now have to go out of the county for swimming lessons.

The Trustees of Cardigan Memorial Pool and Hall Trust which has been running the facility, said last week that the pool will close its doors on Friday, 29 March due to a combination of “significant debt”, “reduced usage levels”, and “much higher energy costs.”

The council’s Cabinet, meeting on 19 March, is set to decide on a plan to transfer the building into council ownership, but a report put before members makes it clear that there is no budget to keep it up and running.

While the Cardigan Memorial Pool and Hall Trust had hoped the council “would be able to take it on and run it”, the report says that “given the council’s wider financial position, core funding does not exist to operate the facility as a going concern as that could only have happened by placing an even higher burden on Ceredigion residents through council tax.”

“The council does not therefore intend to re-open and operate the facility,” the report added.

Three Ceredigion primary schools currently receive swimming lessons at Cardigan pool with the report outlining that the “nearest potential alternative provision is out of county which is significantly closer than the nearest in county provision.”

“Discussions have yet to take place with the schools or providers regarding alternative provision,” the report added.

A recent condition survey of the building – built in 1977 – identified more than £900,000 worth of works that need to be carried out in the next five years.

The condition survey was carried out as part of the council’s feasibility study for the Wellbeing Centre in Cardigan, with hopes continuing that the site could be used for that project if it gets the green light and appropriate funding.

The feasibility study for the Wellbeing Centre in Cardigan has yet to conclude, the report says, but the “development will be dependent on attracting sufficient capital funding to bring the project to fruition.”

The report says that transferring the asset to the council would incur a one-off cost at a time that the council is seeking £18m worth of savings and hiking council tax and fees.

The cost of the transfer is not yet known.