BROMSGROVE leisure chiefs have given assurances that the town's Dolphin Centre meets all current safety standards and passed an independent assessment with flying colours earlier this year.

Robbie Hazlehurst, the authority's director of leisure, said the Dolphin Centre boasts state of the art equipment and meets all requirements.

"I can assure the people of Bromsgrove that the Dolphin Centre is perfectly safe and that all the recommendations from a report by the Health and Safety Executive were implemented," he said.

Mr Hazlehurst made the comment in response to a call from Labour group leader Councillor Peter McDonald (Lab-Waseley) to publish the findings of the report, which was commissioned following four incidents within a space of three months at the School Drive centre four years ago.

"There were three chlorine leaks, one of which resulted in a member of staff being in hospital for five days, and a fire. As a result the council commissioned a report from the Health and Safety Executive. That report was paid for by ratepayers but has never been published, which is a scandal," said Cllr McDonald.

"Now there is a £112,000 refurbishment programme for the Dolphin Centre underway and yet we have still not been told what happened four years ago and it is time that the council came clean."

Mr Hazlehurst said that following the chlorine leaks there had been major investment in upgrading the chemical systems at the Dolphin Centre, which was given a full bill of health in a recent independent QUEST assessment - a nationally accepted quality check for leisure facilities.

A spokeswoman for Bromsgrove District Council said the original Health and Safety report had not been published for legal reasons but reaffirmed that its recommendations had been acted upon.