A PROJECT to power a community swimming pool using green energy has moved a step closer to reality.

Supporters of Wigton’s swimming pool voted in force to put them top of a Marks & Spencer energy competition leaderboard with £12,500 of funding up for grabs.

The project, dubbed Powering Wigton Baths Into The Future, received a total of 1,401 votes in the competition – 400 more than its closest rival.

The organisation which manages the pool, Wigton Baths Trust, is waiting for the result to be verified.

If the result is confirmed it will mean the pool receives the cash to put towards a project to install a 40 solar panels on the roof of the Stony Banks site.

“I’m very optimistic that the project will happen, should it be confirmed,” said trust chairman Alan Pitcher.

“It will save us about £2,500 a year on our normal bill and everything like that is worthwhile.”

The rest of the money needed for the £15,500 project will come from a series of donations from a crowdfunding scheme that finished last month.

Although it didn’t reach its target, many of the people who pledged cash are willing for their donation to stand.

“We’re over the moon with the response from the community,” added Mr Pitcher.

“When you hear about how people are telling their friends and family to vote and you walk down the street and people say they’ve voted and have told someone else to, it’s great.

“Everyone’s been doing their bit.”

Mr Pitcher hopes some work can begin on the installation before Christmas.

It’s the latest piece of good news for the facility after it secured a £2,000 grant from the Joyce Wilkinson Foundation for new equipment in August.

The pool used to be operated by Cumbria County Council but was forced to close in 2013 before being handed to the trust, who
officially took over in March.

Since then, opening hours have been extended and a fundraising drive has been launched to make sure it can continue to operate in the hands of the community.

A public meeting will take place next month where the findings of a study into producing hydropower at Speet Gill for the town’s pool will be revealed.

The meeting will take place at the Cumberland Room in the Market Hall on November 2.

It will start at 7pm. Refreshments will be served from 6.30pm.