SWIMMERS are still unable to use Westhoughton Leisure Centre pools, but council officers hope they will be open in less than two weeks.

They have been shut since a flood caused by a freak downpour damaged a boiler on June 14.

A council spokesman said: "We are waiting for parts that will be fitted as soon as they arrive. Health and safety checks will then be carried out.

"We hope the pools will be open to the public by the week commencing July 22."

Pupils at the neighbouring Westhoughton High School use the pools during term.

Cllr Laurence Williamson,executive member for culture, said there would be a party for users when the pools reopen.

He said: "The floods caused the leisure centre to close for just one day. Staff worked hard to clear the centre of water which was running down the corridors.

"Unfortunately, they discovered the school's boilers, which also serve the centre, had been flooded. Once temperature was lost in the pools, they had to be closed, but the centre remains open for all activities other than swimming."

He added that all users of the pools who could be contacted would be informed when they were re-opened.

The downpour was the second blow to the leisure centre in a month.

Teenage vandals smashed the windows on the front of the building just a fortnight before the flood.