Private pool asks to stay open after planning row

A private swimming pool business has applied for planning permission to keep running after its local council previously ordered it to close.

Ossett Leisure was told to shut by Wakefield Council after planning authorities ruled it was harmful to the surrounding area on the grounds of noise and parking concerns.

But in a new planning application, Ossett Leisure said it would operate "very differently" in future in an effort to address those fears.

It said it would reduce the number of people attending at any one time and there would no longer be amplified music, "radically changing" the previous levels of noise.

Wakefield Council initially refused the pool planning permission two years ago, before the government's Planning Inspectorate subsequently upheld that decision after the owners appealed.

Jon Gardiner, who owns the venture, told BBC News in April that he felt "victimised" by the process and insisted Ossett Leisure had had no complaints from neighbours within the previous 18 months.

But the new planning application, which was submitted to Wakefield Council in June, shortly before the deadline the pool was given to shut, said the "maximum number of attendees per group booking" would be reduced from 15 to eight.

It added: "Amplified music is removed entirely.

"The venue will not operate gym memberships, so use is limited to discrete pre-arranged bookings rather than open or drop-in attendance."

The application also said a "staggered booking system" would be introduced, "with a minimum 15-minute interval between groups so that the site is clear of one group's vehicles before the next arrives".

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.