The temporary 12-metre swimming pool in Wanstead will remain open until the middle of the summer, it was announced at last night’s full council meeting.

The pool at Wanstead High School, in Redbridge Lane West, which opened to the public in January, had been scheduled to close at the end of April.

But Cllr Joyce Ryan (Conservative, Fairlop) declared it would be now been open until July 18 at the meeting at Redbridge Town Hall, High Road, Ilford.

Cllr Ryan, cabinet member for culture and leisure, said: “I have received extremely positive feedback for this measure.

“Eight schools and 450 community swimmers have used the pool [since it opened].”

The pool has been open for use to schools during the day and residents in the evening.

According to Cllr Ryan, of the eight schools that have used the pool, 555 schoolchildren have learnt to swim.

The pool was installed as part of Boris Johson’s Make A Splash initiative.

Twenty-one London boroughs have been scheduled to received temporary pool before 2015.

Cllr Ryan added Total Swimming, the company that built and provided the pool to the borough, believes the usage is “well above the London average” for pools of this nature.

“I am so sorry that people did not go and see when it was opened,” she said. “It is unbelievably good.

“We want our children to learn to swim, and the extension of this temporary pool will secure that for the near future.

“It is definitely not a bath in a shed, it is a great facility and it is brilliant to be able to see the pleasure on childrens’ faces.

“This shows that despite great criticisms of this project, we were committed to it. It is doing great work down there.”

Since the Ilford Swimming Baths, in High Road, closed in 2008 there has only been one public pool for Redbridge’s 279,000 residents.