'There's a popular misconception that Lottery money has been invested in improving and maintaining London's pools' says Liz Hughes of the London Pools Campaign. 'Instead in the last ten years we have seen an ongoing decline in the number of pools in the city.'

'Each year in London one more pool closes and is not replaced. This year Charlton Lido and Willesden Pool closed, last year Clissold Leisure Centre closed. Streatham Pool, Northolt Swimarama and Ladywell Pool are under threat.'

The money from the lottery has only been used to develop new facilities. Unfortunately for residents of the borough of Hackney, one of those projects, the Clissold Leisure Centre, was closed in 2003 after only twenty months when inspectors found a series of faults. There is no indication of it re-opening.

'The lottery was supposed to give us extra - luxury on top of the normal pool provision from local authorities,' adds Liz Hughes. 'In fact London's pools were already in serious trouble and the lottery money has acted as an inadequate sticking plaster.'

In a bid to discover the true state of the capital's public swimming pools the London Pools Campaign is launching a "mystery swimmer" initiative. Members of the pools campaign will visit every public pool in London (102 in all) and score the pool for cleanliness, friendly staff, good water and overall facilities.

The winning pool - to be announced in the spring - will be awarded the London Pools Campaign award.

• Liz Hughes 020 7690 6662 or 0777 300 2646
• Greg McNeill 07789 005 652