A SPARK of hope has been ignited for three North Lancashire swimming pools threatened by closure.
In February Lancaster City Council gave notice of its intention to hand over management of the community pools at Hornby, Carnforth and Heysham to Lancashire County Council from April 2011.
But LCC leader Stuart Langhorn and County Council leader Geoff Driver met last week for crunch talks about a possible rescue plan for the facilities.
In a joint statement they wrote: "Lancashire County Council and Lancaster City Council are working together to find a way to ensure that the community swimming pools at Carnforth, Heysham and Hornby remain open for the benefit of local residents.
"We are looking at how we can share services or work on joint initiative to save money for the city council and ease pressures on its finances, and this should release sufficient resources to keep the pools open.
"The city council has given the county council 12 months notice of its current intention to withdraw from managing the pools. This will give both councils the opportunity to explore all options and bring a report back to councillors in the next few months."
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