A swimming school has spoken out against a decision to close a well used pool.

Tritons Swim School CIC teaches lessons in the Ilford County High School, Fremantle Road, Barkingside and said it was only given short notice that the facility would shut in the autumn.

A spokesman said: "On Wednesday evening (July 24), Tritons Swim School CIC received an email telling us that the swimming pool at Ilford County High School was going to close permanently from 1st September.

"We had not had any communication before Wednesday.

"We spent time trying to find out more details and see if there is anything that can be done to reverse this decision, including offering to run the pool.

"The Swim England Facilities team have confirmed that they were not contacted about the decision and that they would like to offer help to enable the pool to stay open.

"Unfortunately, because of the unavailability of key people and the short time scales involved, it looks almost inevitable that the pool will not be available in September and that the best-case scenario is that the pool can be reopened in the near future."

The company said it would like to keep all of its Ilford County High customers and is offering spaces at at Caterham High School pool, Caterham Avenue and The Community Pool, Forest Road, Waltham Forest.

"To enable you to test out the feasibility of travelling to Waltham Forest, we will be offering all of our Ilford County High School customers free spaces on the intensive courses that we are running over the summer," he added.

"We will be sending details of how to take advantage of this offer shortly.

"Customers can get in touch with us via email at info@tritons.org.uk or on social media and we are on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as @tritonsswimuk."

Vision Redbridge Leisure and Culture, which oversees the local authority's social offering, has released a statement about the news and said it regrets the "impact" of the venue shutting down.

"The school has taken the difficult decision to close their pool, which means, unfortunately, we can no longer provide swimming lessons," a Vision spokeswoman said.

"We regret the impact and are working with the school and our partners to accommodate as many lessons as we can elsewhere."