A POPULAR leisure centre could be on the verge of closure after £400,000 funding fell through.

Mercer Hall, in Great Harwood, is in ‘urgent need’ of investment to improve facilities, council bosses say.

The Queen Street facility, run by the arms-length organisation Hyndburn Leisure Trust, needs work to improve the swimming pool, gym, sauna and steam room, as well as renovations to the changing rooms.

Coun Peter Clarke said around £70,000 would now be found from council budgets to complete vital maintenance to replace boilers and keep the venue open in the short term.

But he would now have to ‘fight tooth and nail’ to keep it open beyond the end of the year. The council had won a grant from Sport England for improvements but had now been told the money was no longer available.

Coun Clarke said: “If it shuts, there would be a riot. That is why I am going to fight with everything in my power to keep it open. But we are going to have a tricky few years.

“It was a lot of money that was coming in to Great Harwood and it has now been pulled by London. We were promised around £400,000 but with these cuts being made it has now gone.

“We realise it is an asset to Great Harwood and Hyndburn so we will put in the money to keep it going in the short term.

“We all realise we have to keep it open but the money is not there.”

County Coun Ciaran Wells said: “It is essential we keep it open. It is a great facility for the town but just because it has suffered from a lack of investment it should not be allowed to close.

“This funding news shows that the Government does not care about Hyndburn.”

The borough’s only other pool is at Hyndburn Sports Centre, Church.