Dover’s planned new leisure centre could house an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

District councillor Bob Frost says such a pool could make Dover the top place to go for swimming in the county.

Plans to get residents a new premises have come to fruition since December, when the results of a lengthy sports review for the district were published.

Sites in Whitfield and Buckland Mill are earmarked as possibilities, but both will be subject to consultation and investigations into resident transport and access.

Cllr Frost said: “We are thinking far too small with this - there are no Olympic sized swimming pools this side of London.

“We will have the chance to make it a centre of excellence.

“Something like this would really up the game - we need to have a vision and say ‘this could be the future’.”

If it is agreed by the district council’s cabinet committee, Dover, will be the only place in Kent to have such a pool.

The North Deal councillor said that the town is known for housing Britain’s fattest man, Carl Thompson, who lived in Maison Dieu Road and weighed-in at 65 stone.

Mr Thompson died at 32 in his sleep in June last year.

Cllr Frost said having a dynamic sports facility will lower the obesity rate.

An Olympic-sized swimming pool is 50m long and contains 10 lanes.

“In my view, this could put Dover on the map,” he said.

“I thought we actually ought to do something and make this a legacy project.”

After doing his research, the former maths teacher also said that the pool should be heated by ground sourced pumps.

According to the Energy Saving Trust, this mechanism, which extracts heat from the ground, will lower fuel bills and carbon emissions.