A TOTAL of £350,000 is to be set aside by East Hampshire District Council to repair the banks of Tilmore Brook at Petersfield which collapsed after torrential rain last year.

Around £50,000 of this will be spent on repairing the bank alongside Petersfield outdoor pool. Its collapse caused thousands of pounds of damage, including cracks in the pool and such severe damage to the men's cubicles that they are now sinking.

The news comes as a great relief to the Petersfield open-air swimming pool committee, which earlier this year was not clear who would have to foot the bill for the work.

But after a meeting with the National Rivers Authority in the spring it became clear to the committee that the subsidence at the pool was caused by the erosion of the Tilmore Brook bank.

On Wednesday night, members of East Hampshire District Council's cabinet were being told that they owned the narrow strip of land along the bank of the river next to the pool and it was their responsibility to repair it.

In a report to the cabinet, officers told members: "There have also been bank collapses at this point and it will be necessary to dismantle the boundary wall of the pool to make good the bank."

The cabinet was being told that the work was estimated at £50,000.

In addition, a further £300,000 looked likely to be set aside to repair other stretches of the bank where it passed through the Herne Farm estate.

Officers reported: "During the high flows experienced last winter, parts of the bank collapsed and it is probable that further collapses will occur in the future if no action is taken.

"A serious collapse could block the stream, leading to upstream flooding."