A study into the costs and feasibility of bringing an open air swimming pool back to Abergavenny could soon start as a campaign gathers momentum.

Abergavenny Lido Group has ambitious plans to build a heated outdoor pool at Bailey Park and is raising funds to carry out an estimated £25,000 study.

Around £8,000 has already been raised and a grant application for a further £1,000 is being considered by Abergavenny Town Council’s policy and resources committee this week.

Campaigners hope to receive the outcome of another, larger funding application in the coming weeks, with hopes that the study can then get under way.

The cost of bringing an outdoor pool back to Bailey Park after the last one closed 25 years ago could be around £7m.

But with the increasing demand for people to swim, bathe and de-stress in outdoor facilities all over the UK, the Abergavenny Lido Group say a new town park pool would help to tap into this increasing potential revenue stream.

Lido-Ponty, the only outdoor public lido in Wales, reopened prior to lockdown and saw more than 40,000 people visit in just four months in the 2019 season.

The original Abergavenny outdoor pool opened in Bailey Park in 1938, and volunteers and the town council kept the project going after it was closed by the former Monmouth Borough Council.

But the pool finally shut for good in 1996 after supporters struggled to keep it viable, and it was later filled in.

The Ponty-Lido project saw over 40,000 people visit in just four months in the 2019 season.

An application for the town council grant says there is “a great deal of enthusiasm” in the community for the project.

“We’ve undertaken a public survey completed by 800-plus residents, of whom 97 per cent are in support of the project,” it says.

“At present the priority is to establish the feasibility of the project.

“Once this is done, we will work to secure larger grants from capital funders to achieve our ultimate aim.”

Jane Smith, secretary at Abergavenny Lido Group, said many people have fond memories of using the pool.

“We just think now is the time to get a lido back in Abergavenny,” Ms Smith said. “The only other outdoor lido in Wales is in Pontypridd.

“Abergavenny is really up-and-coming as a tourist destination and this would really add to the town’s attractiveness.

“Nowadays people love swimming in the open air. We think it would be hugely successful and popular.”

The feasibility study would assess the economic sustainability of the project and its costs.

The planned lido would be powered by renewable energy and built on the site of the former pool at Bailey Park, which is now a rough patch of ground.

Campaigners say it would offer “a unique leisure experience” for people in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, South East Wales and further afield.

A grant funding application says the lido would also provide a new source of employment and income to the local economy, while bringing additional business to shops, restaurants and hotels.

Monmouthshire County Council previously granted the lido group landowner consent to carry out fundraising activities, such as applying for grants, but said it would be unable to provide further financial support.

Find out more about the campaign at abergavennylidogroup.co.uk