CAMPAIGNERS are refusing to slow down their efforts to find out the truth about the sale of Arthur Hill Swimming Pool.

One of a Kind (OOAK) Developments was revealed as the winning bidder this week, but full details of other bidders remain shrouded in mystery.

Reading Borough Council (RBC) staff agreed to meet with two members of the Arthur Hill Campaign on Thursday morning.

They exited the building with a redacted copy of the brief for the policy meeting held last year, which took place behind closed doors.

The lobby says this has been another victory for 'Operation Transparency' – but it will not mean the end for their campaign.

Peter Burt said: "We spoke to two senior offices who explained their position to us and gave us a copy of the secret report.

"There is no question that this document would not have been released to the public if it had not been for our pressure.

"We think it raises a number of questions. We are rather concerned that there does not seem to be any objective assessment of the different bids."

The group had previously held other demonstrations at the civic offices on Bridge Street, following the decision to close the site and latterly the refusal to name who the preferred bidder was.

Councillor Graeme Hoskin, lead member for Sport, said: "We are striving to be as transparent as we possibly can within the constraints of confidentiality and procurement law."

Plans are now in place to invest into leisure facilities across Reading.

However, the procurement process to build new swimming facilities in the borough is 18 months behind schedule, meaning new pools may not be seen until 2021.

Cllr Hoskin recently revealed that RBC has spent more than £170,000 on consultants for this process, much to the frustration of rival councillors and the Arthur Hill lobby.

Mr Burt added:"Arthur Hill Pool was given to the community for community use. If there had been two bids of similar value, one of which was for community use, it shoudl have won, even if it was slightly less.

"RBC promised when they first started talking about building a new pool in East Reading back in 2003, they specifically said we wont close Arthur Hill Pool until a new one has been built.

"Clearly that has not happened. The pool should and could have stayed open if the council had been willing to work with the community.

"The reason there is not a swimming pool in East Reading at the moment is entirely due to pig-headedness and stubbornness on behalf of RBC.

"It is absolutely disgraceful in my opinion that a Labour council, supposedly against cuts and privatisation and promoting working with the community has done none of those things."