A town council claims a district council bullied it into handing over £15,000 to keep a swimming pool open.
Brightlingsea Town Council members say Tendring Council forced them to choose between offering the cash or losing the town's much-loved open-air pool.
The move means that, in effect, residents will be taxed twice for the same facility as the money will be claimed back on the rates.
But the district council says the pool has never been under threat and the money is nothing more than a generous offer from the town council.
At Friday's town council meeting, Jo Ruffell said: "We've fought long and hard over this and if we had not agreed to this proposal then the swimming pool would not have been open this summer, which would have been a tragedy."
But Tendring Council spokesman Mike Page said: "We always look at possible savings in every budget review, but there are no immediate plans, and never have been any, to close the pool."
More in today's Evening Gazette
Published Monday, February 21, 2005
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