Only one swimmer was in the pool when the incident occurred

No one was injured in the incident, which saw metal slats fall from the roof into the water at the pool's shallow end.

Stirling Council said the incident took place at the Rainbow Slides leisure centre in the city centre last Wednesday.

The centre, built in 1975, was immediately closed.

A Stirling Council spokeswoman said an L-shaped teaching pool, specially designed for children, had been unaffected by the incident.

'Sell-by date'

She added: "Other activities and facilities within the Rainbow Slides building are unaffected, including the smaller children's pool which has a separate roof."

The structural damage means that part of the leisure centre will be closed pending a full investigation into the extent of the problem.

The 25-metre swimming pool is used for general swimming, water-based fitness classes and has a spectator area.

When repair work was last carried out on the building in 2002, councillors agreed to spend �61,000 on essential repair work, describing the pool as "past its sell-by date".

Replacement and repair work has recently become restricted to health and safety and critical issues, because of plans to relocate to a new sports village at Forthbank on the outskirts of the city.