A new gym has opened at Thirsk Swimming Pool following a £600,000 renovation.

Equipped by Life Fitness, the new facility will be complemented by new changing rooms, including an area for people with disabilities, while the former gym will be converted into a studio for activities, meetings and parties.

"The project is coming on at a great pace," said councillor Ralph Andrew, cabinet member for health at Hambleton District Council.

"The gym has been completed ahead of schedule allowing the contractors, Foden Spence, to focus on other aspects of the development - the studio and changing facilities."

The remaining facilities will be completed by early October.

Neville Huxtable, chair of the Thirsk and Sowerby Swimming Baths Charity - which owns the pool - said: "The gym looks fantastic. Just what the community has been calling out for.

"It's a huge improvement on the previous gym and much more in keeping with the standard of facilities that the council operates in Northallerton, Stokesley and Bedale."

Mark Robson, chair of the Thirsk and Sowerby Flatts Preservation Trust, which provided the land on which the new gym has been built, added: "The new facilities, together with the improved changing rooms for the football teams that use the Flatts and the cycleway to help people get to the centre, means people throughout Thirsk and Sowerby can now enjoy excellent leisure provision, whether they choose to do this in the gym, the pool, playing football or walking the dog."

A council investment of £600,000 was complemented by contributions from Sport England and local housing developers.