Colchester's Leisure World faced permanent closure without a massive £8million investment, it has been revealed.
Councillors met on Wednesday night to discuss the venue’s investment plan.
The Leisure Pool closed in September and will stay shut until early 2027 while work costing up to £8 million is carried out.
Colchester City Council could not comment on Wednesday’s meeting because of the risk of disclosing confidential details.
But council leader Paul Dundas, who said the work was urgent.
He said: “The Cowdray Avenue site has been underinvested in for years. In an ideal world we would like to build a brand-new centre, but that decision needed to have been taken ten years ago.
“The simple fact is we are now faced with the stark choice of investing in the current site or closing it permanently in the next few months.
“Neither the council administration or I think it would be remotely acceptable for a city of over 200,000 people such as Colchester to have no public swimming facilities, so we are going to invest and revitalise it for the future.
“We did of course explore redevelopment and building a new facility which didn't prove feasible financially at the moment and would leave us with no centre for five years or so.”
Mr Dundas said the council is seeking more investment through grants and the private sector.
A Sport England report found that Leisure World centres across Colchester generated £5.8million in social value.
But Conservative councillor Thomas Rowe claimed the plans lack long-term ambition.
He said: “My concern is that we're spending millions extending the life of an ageing building without properly exploring the long-term alternatives.
“I'd like to see whether the site could be redeveloped for high density housing, potentially incorporating a modern swimming pool and retaining access to leisure facilities.
“I fully recognise the importance of Leisure World to residents, but we need to look at whether there are better ways of providing these services and securing value for taxpayers.
“I think the council needs to start making long-term decisions rather than continually investing in short-term solutions.”
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