A CAMPAIGN has been launched to build a new swimming pool for Guisborough residents in memory of Ashok Kumar.

The constituency MP, who died last month, was an ardent campaigner to save the existing swimming pool in the town.

He rallied support from local councillors and campaigners to persuade Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council to invest £300,000 to refit the existing pool last year.

And now the man who has been selected by the Labour party to replace Dr Kumar has launched a campaign to get a new pool built at Laurence Jackson school in memory of the 53-year-old MP.

Tom Blenkinsop believes that the scheme should be included as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

He said: “Ashok fought tirelessly to keep the existing swimming pool in Guisborough. He not only saved it but created such a head of steam that the community campaign forced the council to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on refurbishing it.

“However, we all recognise that it is an ageing facility and we need to build a new one.

“I believe the BSF programme offers our best hope to achieve this.

What a great testament to Ashok that would be. We should name the new pool in his honour.

“I am seeking a meeting with the Save Guisborough Swimming Pool campaign committee to see how we can work together to progress this further.”

The existing pool was refurbished in 2008 after the long-running campaign to secure its future.

Rob Vincent-Jones, chairman of the Save Guisborough Swimming Pool campaign committee, said: “Ashok stood down as chairman of the campaign when we saved the existing pool and I was honoured to step up to the role to start the campaign to investigate looking into ways that we could build a new one.

“I welcome the idea that Tom has put forward and we will be discussing it with the committee members.

It’s a great idea to name a new pool the Ashok Kumar Swimming Pool to honour his achievements.”

Mr Blenkinsop was selected as the prospective Labour parliamentary candidate for Dr Kumar’s seat following a hustings meeting in the town last weekend.

The 29-year-old is a campaign manager with steel union Community and was heavily involved in the fight to save the Teesside Cast Products plant in Redcar, which resulted in 1,600 workers losing their jobs in February this year.