PARISH leaders in a North Dorset village have “grasped the nettle” in a bid to save the Blandford Leisure Centre from closure.

Durweston Parish Council has pledged to contribute £3,844 a year to the cost of running the leisure centre on Blandford’s Milldown Road.

Parish council chairman, Susan Bennett, said: “We know of enough tragedies in the river in the last 20 years - a swimming pool is a necessity.”

“Durweston Parish Council has grasped the nettle and voted to meet the full share for Blandford Leisure Centre.”

The amount is equivalent to an extra £25 a year on the council tax bill of Band D homes in the parish. Leisure centre supporters say its running costs could be met if each household in the DT11 postal area paid an extra 50 pence a week in council tax Parishes across North Dorset are being asked to fill a funding gap of £250,000 a year when the district council subsidy ends next March.

Steve Hitching, the chairman of the Blandford Leisure Centre Action Group, welcomed the move, and urged other parish and town councils to follow suit.

“I am delighted that Durweston has shown this very generous support and hope other villages in the DT11 area will have the courage to support the Blandford Leisure Centre in the same way,” said Cllr Hitchings.

The campaign has attracted support from a range of different organisations. Blandford Town Council has pledged £50,000 a year for three years towards the leisure centre’s costs.

Health managers at Milton Abbas and Milborne St Andrew Surgery recently went on record in the Daily Echo with a pledge for £1,000 a year for three years.

Practice manager, Sharon Hunt, told the paper that closing the centre would be detrimental to the surgery’s 3,500 patients.