Proposals to set up a trust to run Portishead's Open Air Pool near Bristol have taken a tentative step forward.

Members of the Save the Open Air Pool (STOP) group met councillors behind closed doors to outline their plans to set up an independent trust to take over the management of the seafront lido from North Somerset Council.

The meeting was called by the Strategic Planning and Economic Development (SPED) Scrutiny and Policy Committee working group.

The group has the job of scrutinising a report compiled by a special panel set up earlier this year by the authority to review the costs of running the pool. The panel is recommending the pool, which the authority claims costs £130,000 a year to run, is closed for good and the site sold off.

The SPED working group has until the end of November to scrutinise the report and make recommendations on the future of the pool to North Somerset Council executive.

Councillors on the working group have now asked STOP members to draw up a business case outlining their objectives in launching a trust to run the pool.

STOP campaign leader Roger Whitfield said he felt the meeting had been "positive" and that councillors had seemed interested in the idea of pool supporters launching a trust to take over the lido.

Mr Whitfield said: "The panel have asked us to draw up a business case to outline our aims and objectives for the pool and prove to that we have the right people, support and skills in place to set up such a trust.

"The working group listened to our ideas and also to our concerns about the report conducted on the running costs and future of the pool.

"I am pleased at how the meeting went and I feel that it is a really positive step forward in the campaign to secure the future of the pool."

Mr Whitfield said he would be meeting STOP members tonight to discuss the details of the trust business plan.

The panel also heard from Bill Hunter, a member of STOP and treasurer of the Friends of Portishead Open Air Pool Group, about his concerns about information contained in the review panel report.

Pool campaigner Tonia Carless, who set up the Friends group last year after news the attraction was under threat, was also asked to speak at the meeting.

Meanwhile Portishead Town Council has thrown its weight behind the STOP campaign.

The town council has suggested STOP leaders group apply for a grant of up to £1,000 to help with the costs of setting up the trust to take over the pool.

The funding would be used to cover the initial costs of setting up the trust including legal and accounting fees as well covering an application to the Charities Commission for charitable status.

STOP group leaders will be drawing up the bid for the funding of the pool near Bristol this week.