Dartmouth's £2m indoor swimming pool dream comes a unique step closer to coming true next week.

Workmen will be moving on to the pool's Townstal site for the first time in the seven-year history of the major project.

A construction company drilling team is due to set up equipment on the car park of the town's leisure centre on Tuesday to carry out vital investigations into the ground conditions ahead of building work.

All the cash needed for the 25 metre pool is now in place and pool trustees expect Bedfordshire-based Kier Construction to begin building work in January next year.

And if all goes well the town could be taking the plunge in the new town pool in January 2016, revealed swimming pool trustee Ray Bridges.

'This will be the first time anything has actually happened on the site of the pool and people will be able to see something happening. We are all terribly excited about it,' said Mr Bridges.

'Dartmouth folks have wanted a pool for so long that they can't quite believe that it is going to happen but it is.'

Devon County Council's £1.5m, South Hams Council's £400,000 and Dartmouth Town Council's £150,000 are all now in place to fund the construction of the pool.

The pool trust has managed to shave almost £1m off the original cost of the project by redesigning the roof of the pool and winning its battle to claim back £400,000 of VAT on the build.

See this week's Dartmouth Chronicle for more on this story