ORGANISERS of the largest-ever international sporting event in the Westcountry – which now looks certain to be lost to the region – have blamed a council's reluctance to support a funding bid for jeopardising the event.

Around 6,000 competitors were expected to descend on Newquay after the Cornish town was last year chosen to host the Surf Life Saving World Championships in 2010.

But Exeter-based organisers Surf Life Saving Great Britain yesterday said the event, dubbed Rescue 2010, was now unlikely to be held in the Westcountry because it hinged on developing a 50-metre swimming pool for the competition.

Surf Life Saving Great Britain, a national charity run by a five-strong staff, said it was not asking the council for taxpayers' money to pay for the permanent pool, which could have cost from around £1 million.

Instead, it needed the council to front a bid for funding from a £140 million central Government swimming fund. But it is thought the council was troubled by absorbing running costs in the long-term.

Adam Wooler, acting chief executive officer of Surf Life Saving Great Britain, said he "sympathised" with the council's reluctance to be left with a "white elephant" in the current economic climate.

But the organisation expressed its "disappointment" that the council would not even commission a feasibility study to see if the financial case stacked up.

Mr Wooler said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Sport England indicated it was willing to pay for what would have been Devon and Cornwall's first Olympic-size pool.

He said: "We hoped the public sector would have taken the opportunity and run with it. Or at least got to point where they could say that it was not possible. That's why we are disappointed."

A sporting event with more competitors than the Commonwealth Games, it was thought the event would have been a financial boon for the Westcountry. It was estimated it could have brought in excess of £18 million to the region. Pool and ocean events include iron man contests, surf board races and beach sprints.

The only hope for the event remaining in the Westcountry is if a benefactor is willing to stump up £750,000 for a temporary pool to be shipped in from London.

But Mr Wooler admitted this was unlikely given that the original vision for Rescue 2010 was for a temporary pool to be loaned from the Olympic Development Authority and placed at the back of Fistral beach.

But as the credit crunch became more profound, hopes began to fade that sponsorship from the private sector for the temporary facility could be found. Mr Wooler said paying £750,000 for a pool to be used for the two or three weeks was a "criminal waste of money".

It was at this point that Surf Life Saving Great Britain began to investigate whether there was an appetite for a permanent pool and "legacy" for Cornwall, and sought the assistance of the county council.

Mr Wooler said: "Our conversations with Cornwall County Council started and while initially keen, they feel that unless their was a feasibility study and a proper business case that says Cornwall can sustain a 50-metre pool long-term, they don't want to go down that route.

"And we perfectly understand that. But we feel that if a feasibility study could have been done, it would have been a push, but it could have been done. But now we are running out of time."

Surf Life Saving Great Britain has examined whether the event could be kept in the wider South West.

But while Millfield prep school in Glastonbury and Bath University both have 50-metre swimming pools, both lack the right facilities such as seating.

The proposed Olympic-size pool in Plymouth was also considered as an alternative. But with doubts over whether the Central Park scheme would be complete before 2010, it was deemed too high risk. Mr Wooler said that to keep the event alive in Great Britain, it would have to look at existing pools near to the coast, more than likely in Wales, Hampshire or Dorset.

Cornwall County Council last night hit back, saying that it supported the bid until the idea of a permanent pool arose.

Coun Andrew Mitchell, executive member for economy, said: "We feel it is not the best use of taxpayers' money to plug holes in the Rescue 2010 operational budget.

"It is incumbent upon Surf Lifesaving Great Britain to ensure that its plans are robust and deliverable without large amounts of public subsidy. This has always been the basis of our involvement in the project."

He added the original bid to the International Life Saving Federation was not contingent on the county council being responsible for the provision, operation or "legacy" of a 50-metre pool.

Eden Project co-founder Jonathan Ball, president of the Surf Life Saving Great Britain, came up with the original vision for Rescue 2010.

Tim Jones, chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Business Council, condemned the public sector for not making it clear if it wanted an Olympic-sized pool effectively being "gifted" to the region. He said: "This is a waste of a massive commercial and sporting opportunity. There has been some narrow thinking about short-term implications."