PLANS to turn a warehouse in Maldon into a swimming pool for children’s lessons have been refused by Maldon District Council.

The application site is located within Riverside Industrial Estate off Mill Lane.

If the application had been approved, the site would have seen the installation of a children’s swimming pool, with a capacity of 12 children per hour.

The proposed opening hours were 8am to 7pm on Monday to Friday, and 9am to 6pm on weekends.

The council said the proposed development would have a “detrimental impact” on the local economy through the loss of allocated employment land.

An officer’s report says: “Whilst it is acknowledged that the proposed use of the site could be of benefit to the local community and support health and wellbeing, it is not considered that the loss of the employment floorspace would outweigh this benefit.

“Furthermore, the use proposed, being a swimming pool to be used to provide children’s swimming lessons, could not be described as a complementary use within the industrial estate and would only employ a very limited number of people.”