CAMPAIGNERS have until October to put forward a bid to buy Temple Cowley Pools.

Oxford City Council – the landowner – confirmed the site, in Temple Road, Oxford, as an Asset of Community Value in March.

And it has now been announced that campaign group Save Temple Cowley Pools has officially expressed an interest in buying the site and triggered a full six-month moratorium on April 24.

This means the group will have until October 7 – six months since the site was confirmed as an asset – to attempt to raise enough money to buy the site and the council is prevented from selling the site to anyone else during this period.

The group wants to stop the closure of the pool.

The city council has been planning to sell off the centre for housing, saying it can no longer afford to maintain the site.

But it has faced a series of legal and planning challenges from the group.

Last month the lobby group exhibited designs for the pool. It hopes to be able to keep the swimming pool while adding the 20 homes required there by Oxford City Council and a community centre.

The council is expected to finish work on a new swimming complex next to Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre in Pegasus Road by December.