A wager on when the new East Reading pool will have begun construction was rejected by a councillor at Reading Borough Council’s (RBC) Policy Committee on Monday.

Arthur Hill campaigner Peter Burt offered a £50 bet, to be paid to the charity of the winner’s choice, that construction of the new East Reading pool will not have begun before Wokingham Borough Council’s Bulmershe Leisure Centre opens.

The wager was rejected by councillor Graeme Hoskin, lead Member for Health, Wellbeing and Sport, who said ‘it would be a close call.’

Cllr Hoskin said the council anticipates appointing the operator for Reading’s pool services in January 2020, which would then obtain planning permission for the site.

Bulmershe Leisure Centre is currently scheduled to open in late 2020.

He added: “I am not a gambling man and, especially with regard to issues that are of such public interest and significance, a wager would be highly inappropriate. Though I trust you appreciate the transparency and honesty in setting out our intended timescales to this response."

Mr Burt said: “We are no nearer to building a replacement for Arthur Hill than we were in 2003, when plans for a new pool in East Reading were first announced.”

Cllr Hoskin said Mr Burt was ‘misrepresenting’ reality and ‘comparing apples and pears’.

He added: “Wokingham already have a leisure operator and are designing and building one new facility for their existing operator to then manage.

“In Reading, we are proceeding with a design, build, operate and manage contract across all our retained facilities and moving from an in-house operation for the first time.

“This is inordinately more complex – though I share a degree of frustration that the process is time-consuming.”

East Reading pool Arthur Hill was closed in December 2016 after falling into disrepair.

RBC plan to replace it with a six-lane 25m community pool in Palmer Park.