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Harlech swimming pool will tomorrow find out if it has a future. In an attempt to save money, Gwynedd County Council has ear-marked the pool for closure by the end of this month.

The locals, however, have other ideas and have submitted a plan to keep the pool under community ownership. The decision will be followed with interest in other parts Wales which have already lost their pools.

Darren Coleman, is a coach at Harlech pool. For him, the closure will mean that some of his students may stop swimming. They'll have to travel a difficult fifty mile round trip to Port Madog:

"It's gutting. They've only just started and I think they could end up pretty good. Not to have that, and yet to give them a taste of it - it's wrong, it's wrong."

Jess is one of Darren's pupils and comes to the pool four times a week:

"It's one of my main hobbies. If I didn't have the pool here it would mean I'll probably just be sitting in the living room watching TV."

Paralympics swimmer David Roberts started out swimming at Aberdare swimming pool and has swum in many small local pools that are now closed, including Llangeinor and Tonyrefail:

"My fondest memories of childhood are in the pool playing with my friends. It's a great environment for children to be in. It's non weight bearing, it's fun, it's safe, and kids are exercising without even realising they're doing it."

Whilst the Welsh Assembly Government's drive is to create a healthier fitter nation, councils claim that their settlements for this financial year mean that they have to make tough decisions.

Dyfed Edwards is the leader of Gwynedd Council and has to look at ways to cut £15 million over the next three years:

"Can we sustain these assets and the buildings that we have across a large rural county such as Gwynedd for the future with the finance that we're provided? The answer is no. It's all very well having a policy and an agenda from a national government - how do we deliver it locally is the question."

Friends of Harlech swimming pool are not giving up. They've developed a business plan to transfer the pool in to the hands of a community trust. They want to invest in a climbing wall and a café to pull paying customers in. For that they'll need to be given the freehold of the building. Tomorrow the board of Gwynedd council will meet to discuss the pros and cons of the plan. It's in their hands as to whether Harlech pool will be saved from its current closure date at the end of this month.

Other parts of the UK have already set up community trusts to run swimming pools. Alan Joyce has successfully run a community owned pool in Sheffield for the past 16 years. He says they'll be taking on a major undertaking:

"The secret of the success is hands on. You've got to be prepared to be there making sure that the facility is there for the people you're trying to encourage to come. It cannot work for you, you've got to work for it."

Swimming pools in Treherbert in the Rhondda Valley, and St David's in Pembrokeshire, have recently been closed, but local community groups have also developed plans to revive their pools.

They, like many others, will be keeping a close eye on what happens in Harlech tomorrow. It could provide a blueprint for the future.