AN EYESORE former city swimming pool is finally set to be demolished to make way for housing after work was hit by long delays when experts found more asbestos than expected.

The derelict former Sansome Walk swimming pool, which closed in December 2016, was due to have been demolished earlier this year but work was delayed to due to a higher-than-expected amount of asbestos found in the building and buried in the ground.

Councillors will be asked to approve spending an extra £832,000 on demolishing the former swimming pool next week to go alongside the £750,000 the city council has already received from the government to support the work.

Demolition would start in February 2020 and last eight and a half months until October, if the proposal is backed by the council's policy and resources committee on Wednesday (July 31).

Extra work would then have to take place to prepare the site for future use but it has not yet been decided whether the council or a future developer would carry it out.

A number of surveys were carried out in 2017 to find out how much asbestos was in the building before the contract for the demolition work was put out to tender.

Additional surveys in September last year found more asbestos than was expected leading to further investigations.

Councillors backed plans to demolish the former swimming pool in January 2017 after concerns the derelict site would become a target for vandals and trespassers.

The city council agreed to sell the site to Sanctuary Housing and YMCA in March last year and plans were revealed to convert the site into 22 two-bedroom shared-ownership homes, 76 accommodation units for 18-35 year-olds, a business hub and a communal enterprise space.

The council is expected to work with specialist Gleeds to find a demolition contractor.

The contractor would have to have detailed plans approved by the city council, the Environment Agency and Environmental Health and would be shared with the Health and Safety Executive before work begins.

Andrew Round, director of place at the city council, said: “The biggest priority in this project is the health and safety of both residents and the contractors who will be working at the site.

“The proposals we are making to councillors make it clear that the preparation and management of the demolition process will have full regard of the safety of residents and comply with the very strict regulations that exist for this type of work.”