IT’s good news that cabinet members at Winchester City Council voted to defy their own council leader, Stephen Godfrey, and his deputy Vicky Weston to opt for a 50-metre pool as its preferred option in the leisure centre redevelopment.

That tells us several things –: one is that Cllr Godfrey can hardly be said to have an iron grip on his team that he was outvoted by his colleagues, which is actually quite refreshing.

The second is that it looks like Highcliffe/Bar End is the preferred location for the new centre as the River Park Leisure Centre site in Hyde is too small for a 50m pool.

These are early days and the supporters of the near-Olympic size pool (it would only have eight lanes and not the requisite 10ten) would be wise not to celebrate just yet. Many, if not most, residents in the Highcliffe/Bar End area are perhaps unaware of what is proposed for their neighbourhood and when they are fully apprised they may not be happy as the scheme could involve the loss of open space.

The 50m pool will obviously be more expensive to build and run than a 25m pool and that could still be a deal breaker.

But the boost to participation in sport is to be welcomed. Bizarrely, the 900-member Penguins swimming club currently has nowhere to competitively swim as the pool at River Park Leisure Centre is fractionally too small.