THE swimming pool at the Loch Centre in Tranent could remain closed for the foreseeable future after East Lothian Council stated that it “can’t be specific” about when it would reopen.

The pool, along with the rest of the centre, was closed in January for maintenance work to change the pool’s filter media.

During this work, issues were found with the roof of the building and the pool has remained closed since.

The council confirmed that investigation work to determine what steps should be taken to repair the building were still ongoing but that the issues were not a result of the use of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

RAAC is a lightweight form of concrete used in roof, floor, cladding and wall construction in the UK from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s which has forced the closure of The Brunton in March and parts of Preston Lodge High School last month.

An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: “The issues within the Loch Centre are not related to RAAC and are therefore not similar to The Brunton and Preston Lodge High School.

“Issues were generated through the age of the building and services are being considered alongside the wider requirement to resolve the pool roof insulation issues.

“Officers, appropriate external resources and partners are working currently across these assets to identify options and assess associated resource requirements.

“This is complex and will be extremely challenging given the financial and wider resource pressures that exist.

"We can’t be specific at this time as to when this work will be completed.”

Councillor Colin McGinn, ward councillor for Tranent, Wallyford and Macmerry, called for patience in a post on social media by enjoylesidure, which runs the centre on behalf of the council.

The post from enjoyleisure stated: “We would like to thank our customers for their patience, we are still awaiting information from East Lothian Council and will update you as soon possible.

“Please enjoy our other swimming pools at Musselburgh, Haddington, Prestonpans, North Berwick and Dunbar.”

Mr McGinn responded to concerns that the pool might never reopen by reassuring people that there had been no discussions to permanently close it.

He said: “Engineering teams are stretched to the absolute max trying to get reports updated at the Loch Centre, Preston Lodge High School and The Brunton theatre.

"At a time when East Lothian Council are fighting against savage cuts to our budgets, we are determined to get back open as soon as practicable.

“We hope the reports will be available over the coming weeks and, for absolute clarity, there have been no discussions with elected officials about not reopening.”