Asbestos fibres may have been blown into the pool area

Reassuring leisure centre staff that there is no reason to be alarmed, they say that although surveyors found both white asbestos and the more dangerous brown type, it was dealt with quickly and safely.

Labour council leader Lawrence Bailey has also responded to resignation calls by two opposition Assembly Members by accusing them of "ambulance-chasing politics".

In a consultants' report, which led to the permanent closure of the centre last November, experts warned the ventilation system "may be blowing airborne asbestos fibres into the swimming pool area".

We carried out air testing and the results were all within the very strict prescribed limits John Young

Plaid Cymru AM Dai Lloyd and Liberal Democrat AM Peter Black, who are both city councillors, voiced their concern about the report and the maintenance of the centre by the local authority.

Dr Lloyd told Dragon's Eye there was "shock and anger on the streets of Swansea" over the report.

"We want to know exactly what maintenance work went on, if at all," he said.

After the Queen opened the centre, it became a top attraction

Mr Black said: "We put down a motion calling for a full inquiry into the closure of the leisure centre.

"We asked for copies of the maintenance records. We asked them to give us details of how the �250,000 they said was spent on planned maintenance was being spent.

"We have had none of that detail."

Both men called for Mr Bailey to consider his position as leader.

The electrics in the building were seen as so hazardous that consultants described "a permanent risk of fire and/or electric shock on site".

The swimming pool was subsequently tested for asbestosis, which can lead to the scarring of lung tissue and cancer, but none was found.

The situation... needs something a bit more serious than assembly antics Lawrence Bailey

John Young, managing director of Cortec, the asbestos specialists who carried out the survey, said: "Nine out of 10 public buildings have asbestos in them".

"The quantities of asbestos found was minimal, we didn't find anything to alarm either staff or customers.

"We carried out air testing and the results were all within the very strict prescribed limits.

"All the asbestos found was dealt with very quickly and safely."

Mr Bailey told BBC Wales News Online a report had already gone before council members detailing how the �250,000 had been spent annually on maintenance since 1996.

He said an additional �4m had been spent on capital projects at the centre during the same period.

"In my personal view the Dragon's Eye programme did not raise anything that was not already in the public domain," he added.

He described the opposition AMs' comments as "ambulance-chasing politics" and said: "Neither Peter Black or Dai Lloyd bothered to go and have a look at the report.

"The situation, and especially the next stage of providing a new facility, needs something a bit more serious than assembly antics."