Coseley baths should be reduced to rubble without delay after the site closes, Dudley Council’s leisure chief said today.

Councillor David Stanley was speaking after the council was criticised over its handling of Cradley High School.

The school in Homer Hill Road has still not been demolished a year after closing, and hundreds of thousands of pounds has been spent on site security.

Councillor Liz Walker has now confirmed that the former school will be demolished at a cost of up to £600,000. Councillor Stanley wants to avoid a repeat of the costly saga, vowing that the pool in Pear Tree Lane will be knocked down soon after closure.

He said: “We will not go down the same road as we went down with Cradley.”

He said details of what the council planned to do with Coseley baths would become clearer next week.

An ecological survey is being carried out after reports of a bat colony roosting in the roof.

“We have got the situation with the bats, and I can’t honestly say exactly what will happen until we resolve that problem,” he said.

It emerged last week that Brierley Hill Swimming Club had been forced to fold after 46 years because of the imminent closure of Coseley baths next month.

Swimmers were in tears when the move was announced by volunteers who run the group at an emergency general meeting.

The club was offered alternative pool times at Dudley Leisure Centre but treasurer Phil Steven said it would be “unfair” to ask the club’s 300 members, most of whom are children under 10, to swim at 7am or 9pm.

Previously, protesters fighting to save the pool were kicked out of a meeting at Dudley Council House minutes before councillors voted themselves a 25 per cent pay rise.