A bid to safeguard the future of Ipswich's Broomfield Pool is set to receive a boost with the reinstatement of funding support from the local authority.

Ipswich Borough Council (IBC) culture and sport portfolio holder, Andrew Cann, is to ask the executive committee to approve £1m towards reopening the facility as a leisure complex. Discussions are scheduled to take place with a range of potential bidders in the coming months, with hopes that a partners can be agreed in early 2011.

Cann said: "We know any bidder will have to seek Heritage Lottery funding; this grant would give them a better chance of securing that. At least we have a fighting chance of securing a future for the pool." Mark Ling, spokesperson for the Broomhill Pool Trust, added: "The Trust has always reasoned that it is better for local taxpayers to invest £1m supporting an operator deliver a multi-million pound asset than it would to spend a similar amout to mothball or demolish the pool."