Furious parents have complained about the state of a paddling pool.

Despite Sheerness being awarded a Blue Flag for its beach, the seafront pool remained choked with rubbish and unused during the school half-term holidays.

Swale Community Leisure, which runs the Sheppey Leisure Centre, said scaffolding for roof repairs made it unsafe to open the pool.

But mum-of-one Kerry-Jane Deadman said: "This is absolutely disgusting.

"We don't have many free places to take kids on this Island so it would have been nice to have had this open, especially during the school holidays."

Her mum Janet Deadman, who runs the ice-cream kiosk at the top of Beach Street, said: "The roof was finished weeks ago. It would take 10 minutes to get the scaffolding down and a day or less to clean the pool. These are just excuses.

"Swale's mayor Cllr Ken Ingleton was on the beach unveiling our new Blue Flag but there was mess everywhere else.

"The paddling pool stayed closed with no water and there were no nets on the tennis courts. We don't even have public toilets near the beach any more.

"It's laughable. I'm totally disgusted. No wonder people don't come to Sheerness. It's a tip! This was once a lovely, clean Island."

Matthew Brown who chairs the new Sheerness Town Council said: "The site is a disgrace, insecure, and dangerous. It is bad enough that the facilities are so neglected but it needs to be dealt with before someone is injured.

"There is an open or dislodged sewer cover with evidence of vermin, graffiti which hasn't been removed and broken fencing around the tennis courts. Doing nothing is not an option. We have had many weeks of good weather yet our meagre attractions remain out of action."

He has asked for a meeting with Swale Community Leisure.

Chief executive officer Dave Harcourt said: "We are in the final stages of completing roofing works on the Sheppey Healthy Living Centre so scaffolding remains in place which renders it unsafe to use the paddling pool. Regretfully, this meant the paddling pool was not be open over the half-term break."

He said all pre-season work had been completed but the water had begun to discolour.

He added: "It is a great shame the area is often subject to vandalism and anti-social behaviour which results in debris and litter being left in the pool. Whilst this is not the reason for remaining closed, it does add greatly to the area remaining unsightly."

He promised: "We will go through and re-clean it before opening. We have already removed rubbish from the pool."

The pool had a £22,500 revamp in March 2017.

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