A charity has been left devastated after its deep-water pool closed in Barnet.

Barnet Copthall’s only deep-water pool, run by North London Aquatics, was the only pool that had a moveable floor and five metre platform between East London & Luton.

But the facility was not included in a regeneration plan by the council in 2016 for two leisure centres in Barnet, worth over £40 million.

Wendy Kravetz, one of North London Aquatics founders, said that in a three-year bid to save the deep-water pool from closure, the council had “blocked us every step of the way”.

She said that at one stage the council had offered around £500,000 to help fund the pool, but to continue its funding would need around £8 million.

She continued: “We gave Barnet every single chance to backtrack the decision and include us in the facilities mix.

“Now here we are three years later, with many blockages in our way, but still determined to put this huge wrong right.

“The children (who used the pool) have campaigned, raised funds, attended council meetings and are beyond heartbroken.”

But Barnet Council said they have given North London Aquatics £30,000 to carry out a feasibility study to assess the potential of building a new regional diving facility in north London.

It added that diving boards at the existing facility will also be donated to North London Aquatics.

A spokesperson for the council said: “We fully explored the possibility of including a diving facility within the new leisure centre at Barnet Copthall.

“Our findings were this would not provide the same level of mass participation as the other facilities - and would therefore not be affordable.

“Getting as many of our residents as possible to take part in sport and physical activity is important to us. That is why we are investing £44.9million in two state-of-the-art leisure centres.

“With a varied mix of facilities, we hope to see more than 1.5million visitors every year.”

Over 10,000 people have so far signed a petition in a bid to save the water-pool.

Ms Kravtez added: “I love the fact that so many people are behind us in trying to save the pool."

Following the news of the closure, North London Aquatics are in the process of building a brand new deep-water pool in North London.