PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak has visited Bingley Pool, just days after it was announced that the town would get £14.5m from Government to reopen the facility.

In his Spring Budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt revived a plan to refurbish the crumbling pool, and redevelop the town’s market square.

On Friday the PM was joined by Shipley MP Philip Davies at the pool during a visit to the district.

The bid for Levelling Up funding pool was initially refused by Government early last year before being resurrected in Wednesday's budget.

On Friday’s visit, Mr Sunak said: “Philip has been talking to me about Bingley Pool for years, firstly when I was Chancellor, and now as Prime Minister.

“He has been relentless in his pursuit to secure this funding and took every opportunity to raise the matter with me and other ministerial colleagues.

“When I was in Bingley last year, everyone I spoke to from both the community and businesses said how important this project was for the local area. I am delighted we have been able to fund the project and I look forward to hearing how it is progressing.”

Mr Davies added: “I am ecstatic we are getting the funding for this much needed pool and improvements to Bingley town centre. When the Prime Minister came to Bingley last year, businesses were telling him how important it was for regeneration of Bingley town centre and he went away and listened and has delivered.

“I am incredibly grateful and the people of Bingley are incredibly grateful. This is the biggest thing that people in Bingley wanted.”

After the announcement on Wednesday, Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s portfolio holder for regeneration, planning and transport, said: “Naturally we welcome any funding that comes into the district, and it is good to receive confirmation that the Levelling Up Fund bid we put in for Bingley was clearly a strong bid.

“Of course, this sudden announcement comes just as we are in the middle of a budget process that proposes to cut £1.2m from our pools budget. 

“So, while we’re excited about the opportunity of using this money to invest in Bingley, we will clearly need to discuss the detail of this with Government.”

The funding was also raised by West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin when she was being questioned by West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Corporate Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday.

Talking about the need for more spending powers to be devolved from Government, she said: “We had an announcement of a new swimming pool for Bingley this week. That’s fantastic, but you have to make sure you have the staff and finances to keep it running. That’s why we need further devolution, so we don’t have to rely on applying for cash from these Government funding streams.”