Concerns are growing over the future of a Stockport swimming pool and leisure centre which is in need of major new investment.

Grand Central, based just off the A6 in Stockport town centre, was found to have 'aging infrastructure' according to a council report from 2024.

The report explained that the facility needed a 'substantial eight-figure investment' to protect its long-term future.

Stockport MP Navendu Mishra has raised concerns about a lack of funding from Lib Dem-led Stockport council for the leisure centre.

Stockport council leader Mark Roberts, a Lib Dem, has hit back, saying: "We want to see investment for Grand Central and the whole public estate too, but for it to happen, we must have a government in Westminster who are ready to listen, instead we've got one endlessly putting out fires Starmer has lit himself.

"A huge difference could be made if Westminster matched our ambition for our borough. Keir Starmer's government decided to omit Stockport from its £600m recovery grant, along with only two other councils of our kind.

"Local people have been let down by Labour for years and come May 7, there is a chance to back a bold Liberal Democrat vision for everyone across Stockport."

Stockport Metro swimming club is based at Grand Central, which has a 50m pool and has produced Olympic medal winners including Steve Parry, who won bronze at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004.

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Grand Central is managed by Life Leisure, a community interest company wholly owned by Stockport council.

Mr Mishra raised the issue in Parliament last month, saying: "In Stockport, not only have we lost Reddish baths, but we have serious issues at the Grand Central swimming pool in our town centre.

"That pool is a valuable asset for the community, and I am concerned by the lack of investment in the facility by the Liberal Democrat-run Stockport council."

Councillor Christine Carrigan, leader of the opposition Labour group on Stockport council, added: "If we want to talk about investment it has to come from the government, and I would implore the government to give stockport what it is due.

"But alongside that, the Lib Dems are the ones tasked with making choices, and their priorities are wrong."

The Labour group leader pointed out that some areas of Stockport are getting major investment, such as in Marple, where the Lib Dem-led council has progressed a £20m project to build a new community hub, fitted out with a five-lane swimming pool, a 60-station fitness suite, a community café, and a new home for Marple Clinic.

Councillor Carrigan went on to say: "The state of our community assets, like libraries, is disgusting."

Hitting back at the criticism, council leader Mark Roberts said: "The Liberal Democrats won't apologise for delivering innovative new facilities like Stockroom and Marple Hub for our residents.

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"Sadly, the previous Labour MP let residents in Reddish down when they chose not to back Reddish for levelling up money, but chose a project in Tameside instead. That is a reality both the council and Navendu Mishra MP must now navigate, but it's another example for Stockport residents who can see how Labour have taken them for granted."

Coun Roberts said that nearly two years since Stockport MP Navendu Mishra was re-elected at the 2024 general election, the borough is 'still waiting' for new investment into its community assets from the government.

He added: "If Stockport Labour councillors want to criticise 'priorities', then I suggest they look in a mirror and decide whether their government accurately reflect their own values, and if they don't – do something about it."