The popular slides at Littledown leisure centre will be removed and not replaced.

The flumes at the BCP Council owned facility have not been open since before the Covid pandemic in early 2020.

It was discovered that the yellow and green slides had reached the end of their operational lifespan.

Now the local authority and BH Live, the charity which runs the leisure centre, have reached a decision over their future.

In a joint statement, BCP Council and BH Live said: “In August 2021 an extensive inspection and assessment of its swimming pool flumes highlighted that they had reach their end of life and were no longer operational.

“Specialists and structural engineers were consulted, and the overriding recommendation was that the flumes should not be used until a substantial refurbishment or replacement was undertaken.

“Further assessment has since confirmed that the original design of the splash pool, and modern legislation in relation to the installation of water flumes, would not be compliant with today’s standards.

“To install replacement flumes would mean remodelling its splash pool which would also impact the learner pool.

“This has resulted in the decision to remove the flumes permanently.”

It will cost around £95,000 to remove the slides from the centre, which was built in 1989.

Contractors were approached to submit estimates on replacing the slides although without invasive and destructive works no firm price was submitted.

Estimates were given ranging between £100,000 and £250,000, but this did not include the required lengthening of the splash pool to meet legislation.

“The schedule of work to remove the flumes has not been confirmed yet,” the statement added.

“However to minimise any disruption to services, it is likely that the work will coincide with the essential replacement of electrical equipment that was damaged in a plant room fire last November.

“BCP Council and BH Live are working with specialist contractors to agree a schedule of works to minimise the impact on services where possible.”

BH Live also runs leisure centre services at Stokewood, Sir David English Sports Centre, Pelhams and Corfe Mullen, while Queen’s Park is due to reopen this summer.