Senior Carlisle councillors have defended plans to spend £19m redeveloping the city’s Sands Centre.

It comes after Carlisle City Council this week unveiled its 2019/20 draft budget - which includes a council tax rise of just under two per cent.

The Labour-led executive said it is getting more and more difficult to balance the books each year, with Government funding reducing.

Some residents have therefore questioned how leaders can justify spending £19m on a new leisure centre.

But leader Colin Glover and deputy leader Les Tickner said they have thought long and hard about the Sands Centre plan, and found a way to make it financially viable.

The vision is to combine theatre, leisure and swimming facilities on the existing Sands Centre site.

Dr Tickner said the current Pools building, on James Street, needs a lot of money spent on it, with ageing pumps needing replaced and facilities needing revamped.

“It’s going to cost £3.5m to put it right. It is not an option to do nothing,” he said.

Combining the two sites will also save money long term, significantly reducing the amount the council pays to Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL) - the company contracted to run its leisure services.

Some residents, including those concerned about the flood risk of developing next to the River Eden, have suggested finding a new site.

But council leaders say the development is only possible if they use land already owned by the authority. “Talk of building it somewhere else doesn’t work. We can only do it on a site we’ve already got. Once its on one site, the sums work,” said Dr Tickner.

Money for the development is coming from a combination of borrowing and reserves, as well as planned savings on the contract with GLL.

Mr Glover said: “If we had to buy a new site we wouldn’t make the savings we need.

“The alternative is to make do with what we have now. That is not the vision we want for this city. People have wanted this for years. Now it is finally going to happen.”

Both men stressed that the building has been carefully designed to protect it from flooding and make it easy to repair if it ever did flood.

Mr Glover said it will sit higher than the current floor level. “It’s all in the design. The fitness suite will be on the first floor and the pools and plant raised up,” he said.