There are no concerns that a £5.4 million put towards the restoration of a historic leisure centre will be lost because of delays.

Despite being closed to the public in April, a £6.5m restoration project for the Grade-II listed Health Hydro is yet to actually get underway as delays have been caused by an ongoing asbestos survey. 

And it has been feared this delay could have further unintended consequences for the future of the restoration after it was confirmed that £5m towards the project's cost, coming from the government's Towns Fund, and £400k from Historic England had to be spent within a certain timeframe.

Read: Health Hydro: Work yet to start on £6.5m refurbishment

But local campaign group Friends of the Health Hydro has been told that the delays are not cause for concern and that there are no concerns over the money. 

A spokesperson for the Friends said: "We received confirmation today from Swindon Borough Council that they have regular meetings with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who manage the Towns Fund, and there is no indication that phase 1 funding is at risk."

A recent Swindon Borough Council meeting heard that the money had to be used within a certain period of time.

During the meeting Cllr Daniel Adams, who was concerned about the asbestos survey delays as well as changes to the plan relating to the changing rooms, asked the cabinet member responsible for culture, art and heritage Marina Strinkovsky about it

He asked: "[Can you] explain how the current delays will affect the funding criteria for the £5m Town Fund grant and the £400k Historic England Grant? Our understanding was that there is a condition on both of these grants that the monies needs to be spent by the end of March 24 and it would not be possible to spend this grant money if a new scheme needed to be prepared."

Cllr Strinkovsky replied: "The £400k Historic England grant has to be defrayed [spent] by the end of March 2024. The works funded by Historic England grant will be undertaken early in the works programme. 

"Of the £5m Towns Fund grant, at least 70 per cent will be defrayed by the end of March 2024. There is an allowance for 30 per cent of the £5m Towns Fund grant to be defrayed after March 2024 without recourse to the Government."