Cabinet members have now voted in favour of letting the charity run the baths, signing off on a 12 year contract.

It is hoped the pool will now open in August.

Town hall leisure boss, Coun Susan Fazackerley, said: "We never wanted the pool to close, it only shut because of financial restraints.

"YMCA has a proven track record of providing leisure facilities on the Fylde coast."

Fylde Council has now set aside £475,000 to refurbish the pool and will pay a subsidy to the YMCA each year.

The authority, which approved the plans at a meeting on Wednesday, has already spent £12,000 on repairs.

Opposition finance chief, Coun Linda Nulty cautiously welcomed the news.

She said: "We came to the meeting with a number of questions and we were reasonably satisfied with the answers we were given. Obviously we are very pleased to see the pool re-opening."

But pool campaigner Bill Whitehead, although happy to see the baths re-open, said the council had "bungled" its chance to prevent the pool closing back in the summer of 2008.

He claimed a business group, who wanted to save the pool from closure two years ago had met with the YMCA who told them they would be able to keep the pool open and take over the running of it for £11,000 a month.

He said on that basis, he believed the pool could have been open all this time for around £230,000.

The Promenade facility closed in July 2008 as part of moves to address a huge council budget deficit.

Council chiefs have been inviting bids from the private sector to run the pool since last summer.

Two bidders got to the final stage but the YMCA, who ran Kirkham Pool, saw off competition from rival Chorley Fitness to clinch the deal.