THE future of Swindon’s historic Health Hydro could be shaped by an independent body after councillors voiced concerns about a GLL-led consultation on its future.

The cabinet will now take the final decision on bringing in an outside firm to explore future options after opposition councillors forced a rethink at Thursday’s meeting of the full council.

Last month it emerged that leisure operators GLL were exploring the possibility of turning a substantial portion of the building into residential accommodation.

The plans have come under fire from heritage campaigners and the public while the council, which will have the final say on any decision as the owner of the building, has been under pressure to take residential redevelopment off the table.

The leader of the council, David Renard, declined to take that step on Thursday. He said that before any possible uses for the Health Hydro could be ruled in, or out, all options needed to be explored and more detail gathered.

He asked his fellow councillors to give their backing to an approach originally set out by GLL - a consultation process to be led by them in co-ordination with the council, the swimming clubs and other key stakeholders.

But the suggestion that GLL should be allowed to co-ordinate discussions on the building’s future did not satisfy opposition councillors.

Coun Nadine Watts (Lab - Old Town) urged Coun Renard and his colleagues to commit to an independent options appraisal instead of an in-house process in order to eliminate the possibility that the outcome would be skewed towards GLL’s business interests.

After a convoluted debate over the language of any decision, the proposals were eventually passed unanimously.

The cabinet will now consider the option of an independent options appraisal and additional survey with the aspiration of delivering a two-pool solution.

Some councillors were not content with including the smaller teaching pool as part of the longer term decision making and urged GLL to look again at a more speedy resolution.

The small pool has now been closed and empty for more than a year, with the town’s swimming clubs reporting a negative impact on their ability to deliver lessons as a result.

Coun Renard said that more information is needed about the nature of the repair work that would be required to fix the small pool before GLL can take a decision on its future.

Others have said the information has been available for some time but that GLL are delaying until a redevelopment plan is in place.