A £58 MILLION leisure centre containing Birmingham’s only Olympic-size swimming pool is being drastically scaled down to save money.

Under the scheme to more than halve the cost, the Aquatics Centre will still be built by the National Indoor Arena in Ladywood – but it will no longer contain a fun pool or a diving pool. Council bosses are considering a vastly scaled down version of the new centre, which will have only a 50-metre pool suitable for Olympic use and a separate sports hall with outdoor pitches.

Cabinet leisure member Martin Mullaney ordered the re-think following discussions with the Amateur Swimming Association.

He believes the cost of the project could be cut to about £20 million, enabling the council to get the Olympic pool built and open by 2014.

Coun Mullaney (Lib Dem Kings Heath & Moseley) said a diving pool had only been included in the scheme in order to form part of a possible Birmingham bid for the Commonwealth Games.