CONTROVERSIAL plans to partly privatise a Hampshire town’s historic seawater baths were given the go-ahead last night.

Civic chiefs in Lymington approved proposals to sign a five-year partnership deal with Lynx Sports Management, despite strong opposition to the scheme.

The proposal sparked stormy debate at a meeting of the town council, which owns the 180-year-old facility.

Critics said the agreement with Lynx lacked sufficient safeguards.

They also complained that the council would have to pay the company an “exorbitant” £300 a day in compensation if the pool were forced to shut.

Tony Horn, one of the people sitting in the public gallery, said hundreds of people had signed his petition opposing the deal.

He asked the councillors: “What are you lot doing? This is a truly local amenity with a huge history.

“I’ve got 700 signatures from people who oppose everything you’ve said about the seawater baths.

“Give me another week and a half and I’ll get another 700 signatures.”

Fellow objector Adrian Woodford said Lynx appeared not to be in a healthy financial state.

He told the meeting: “To me this company is on a downward spiral and in many people’s opinion is not being run correctly.”

But Hugo Ambrose, who owns the business, said he had been the victim of personal attacks and accused his critics of deliberately making misleading statements.

Cllr Martina Humber criticised the Lynx deal, describing the baths as “the family silver”.

However, the mayor, Cllr Anna Rostand, dismissed suggestions that the authority was surrendering control of the site.

She said: “This is a joint working partnership. It’s a way of hopefully making the facility work more efficiently, with more activities.”

The meeting was told that the baths failed 18 tests last year because bacteria levels were too high.

Councillors heard that extra chemicals were now being used.