The Department of Education, Sport and Culture has said that it cannot yet say when the National Sports Centre leisure pools will reopen, after the cessation of work during this year’s lockdowns.

Education, Sport and Culture Minister Dr Alex Allinson told the Isle of Man Examiner that as work on the children’s pool and flumes required specialist scaffolding contractors from the UK, he will be in a better position to give an update once any necessary travel exemption certificates have been issued.

The work will be rescheduled now that construction work has been permitted to resume.

Dr Allinson added that he hopes to be in a position to announce a time frame for the full reopening of the pool hall at the end of the month.

In November, an extra £227,000 was granted to fix the flume staircase and zero-depth children’s play area.

Then project began in August 2017 and was meant to be completed in April 2019.

These additional funds, which were almost unanimously supported by Tynwald, brought the total projected cost of the works to £4.2 million.