THE cost of replacing slippy tiles at a city swimming pool during a three-month closure has more than doubled.

The pool at Perdiswell Leisure Centre in Worcester will close from June 20 to September 11 to replace slippy poolside tiles.

The quality of the pool’s tiles has been a reoccurring problem since opening in 2017 and was finally brought to a head last year with the council agreeing to fix the tiles after dozens of near misses.

However, the expected cost of the work, including compensation for loss of earnings during the closure, has now risen to £640,000 – more than double the £300,000 first predicted.

The council had initially said it would close the pool by October last year but has now said delays – brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic – means work cannot begin until the end of June.

Last year, it was estimated by the council that replacing the surface around the pool and changing rooms would cost more than £180,000 but councillors are now being asked to support a £323,000 budget.

A claim for loss of income during last year’s expected closure was predicted to rise to as much as £120,000 but that has now increased to more than £320,000.

Worcester City Council said it made the decision to close the pool in Bilford Road for three months from June to coincide with the summer holidays when it said fewer people would be swimming indoors.

In 2020, several tests were carried out on the leisure centre floor with anti-slip coating applied to some parts of the poolside.

The council said the floor was in still in a poor state by the time the leisure centre re-opened after the third lockdown in April 2020 - despite only being open for a month in December - which had forced Freedom Leisure, which manages the leisure centre on behalf of the council, to use anti-slip mats in the changing rooms and poolside.

At that point, testing and repairing the surface had already cost the council more than £32,000 including two 'deep cleans' and resurfacing which cost more than £20,000.