There are further delays to the work on the spa

The project was due to be completed in August 2003 when the Three Tenors performed an opening concert.

Paul Crossley, the leader of Bath and North East Somerset Council, said he could not make any promises over when it would now open.

Speaking on the Today programme he said: "Until we have a solution agreed by all parties I simply cannot give an opening date."

The latest set of delays started when the council took out a High Court injunction against contractors Mowlem.

Council officials claimed that the company's workers were not applying paint in the pool properly which was leading it to peel.

A second company was allowed in when the council won the injunction, who then took samples of the paint for analysis.

The results of the test will be discussed today at a meeting between the contractors and the council.

Ambitious project

An NHS spa treatment centre on the site was closed on health grounds in 1978 and since then, attempts to restore the spas have failed because of cost and concerns over the purity of the water's source.

But in 2000, the Millennium Commission gave a grant of �7.78m to refurbish five listed buildings within the complex, including the 18th Century Hot Bath and Cross Bath.

Work on the ambitious project began soon afterwards, but the scheme was plagued by a series of delays culminating in several further setbacks since May.