THE refurbishment of Malvern Splash could cost taxpayers £310,000 more than expected.

Malvern Hills District Council's executive board is asking the council to find the money to finish paying for work at the pool and leisure centre.

The work was carried out in 2002 with a original budget of £1.5 million, of which the Splash's management company SLM agreed to pay a third.

But council's executive committee heard on Tuesday that another £310,000 was needed to cover the project's full costs.

The extra spending arose as more work and extra equipment was ordered.

David Wood, the council's finance chief, said: "The specification changed as the project was carried out and it was decided that additional work would be carried out."

The additional spending was authorised by the council's executive committee, at its meeting in August 2002.

The committee is now recommending that the full council finds the money from capital reserves.

It also says that council officers should make "strenuous efforts" to persuade SLM to pay a share of the extra cost.

Coun Clive Smith said: "We should not lose sight of the fact that what we've got here is one of the best leisure and swimming facilities in the country.

"I'm very confident that negotiations with our partners will be successful and we will be clawing some of this money back."

He also noted that the council, in partnership with SLM, had recently completed refurbishing the pool at Tenbury under budget.

John Oxley, of SLM, said the company had an excellent relationship with the council.

He said: "I'm sure we'll have discussions with the council but there's not much more that I can say about it now."

Former district councillor David Williams, a critic of the project, said: "If they knew an overspend was likely, they should have salted some money away in a contingency fund."

The overspend does not include the cost of putting right the building's ventilation system, estimated at £110,000. This will be the subject of a separate report to the executive committee in January.