"ESSENTIAL maintenance work" will start this summer on the training pool at Carnegie Leisure Centre in Dunfermline.

Fife Council said they'll also tackle air quality issues by putting in a new ventilation system to aid performance swimmers.

The work won't be complete until next year and money to pay for it will come from a project in Pittencrieff Park which has been delayed.

The council's team manager, Andy MacLellan, said: "We're proposing to install an enhanced ventilation system for the training pool, designed to meet the requirements of performance swimmers.

"Along with this work, we're taking the opportunity to carry out essential maintenance on the pool tank and several other areas in the training pool.

“We’re hoping this work will be complete early next year as we continue to plan for a phased opening in line with government guidance.”

Ventilation has been a concern at the Pilmuir Street facility and in June 2014 it emerged that a Sportscotland doctor had advised elite swimmers from Carnegie Swimming Club to stop using the pool due to concerns over air quality.

He found the swimmers’ lung capacity was affected after sessions and, in the worst case, a 15-year-old boy was hospitalised after falling ill on the way home from training.

As a temporary measure, large electrical fans were placed next to the pool.

Exposure monitoring tests later confirmed that the ventilation systems were performing to the relevant standards but a council report conceded that the standards “do not recognise the need for increased ventilation during intensive swimming sessions”.

Funding to pay for the works at the Carnegie Leisure Centre has been linked to delays on a project in the Glen.

An update on the council's capital plan said there was "slippage" of £126,000 relating to refurbishment – the development of an “accessible changing places unit” – in the Glen Pavilion.

It said: "This, coupled with technical issues, has delayed the project which will hopefully commence in late 2020-21.

"The remaining funding has been reallocated to support essential maintenance works to the training pool at Carnegie Leisure Centre with works scheduled in summer 2020."

The Carnegie centre, which closed on March 18 due to COVID-19, is one of the most popular in the Kingdom and attracted more than 445,000 visitors in 2018-19.