The owner of a popular swim school has finally opened for bookings at the new Laindon pool after facing months of delays.

Owner of Swim Mania, Zoe Crane, 31, even had to sell her home to finance her dream of opening her own pool, after planning and surveying fees spiralled and heavy weather severely impacted the build.

Plans were approved by Basildon Council just under a year ago for the £350,000 conversion of Anglia House, Laindon North Trading Estate, from an industrial unit to a family-friendly swimming pool, operating under a long-term tenancy agreement.

Ms Crane said: “It has been an incredibly long and difficult road to get to the point that we are able to open for bookings, but now we are here it feels incredible.

"There have been many times over the past 18 months where it felt as though we would never get to this point, and when it’s been really tough there have been times when I have started to doubt whether or not we’d ever actually get there.”

Despite agreeing to take on the Anglia House site in early December 2016, the new pool is only now nearing completion due to planning delays at Basildon Council, as well as hidden costs of up to £30,000 for technical drawings and surveys.

Until now, Swim Mania has been run by a system of hiring school or leisure centre pools in the region, however, slots can be limited and subject to change creating a degree of uncertainty for Ms Crane when opening new classes and hiring new staff.

Ms Crane said: “The main thought that has kept me going is knowing that we will finally have security for our swimmers, security for our staff, and security for our business.”

A pool of her own will also help Ms Crane achieve her hopes of running classes for babies and people will disabilities in the specialist hydropool.

She said: “I want to give everybody the chance to enjoy swimming, and this is a huge step towards that.

The school will open for its first lessons on July 2. Booking information can be found at swimmania.co.uk, or by calling 07772108855.