Work is ongoing to fit solar panels to the roof of a town’s swimming pool.

A total of 180 panels will be added to Tonbridge Swimming Pool in Castle Street, capable of producing 80kWp, in a bid to cut the building’s running costs and reduce its carbon footprint.

It is estimated the renewable energy generated will save 16 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

The pool is owned by Tonbridge and Malling council, but operated on their behalf by tmactive. It is open as normal throughout the work.

The investment followed an audit of emissions which found that more than half of the greenhouse gas emissions from council buildings and operations were produced by its leisure facilities.

The Tonbridge centre includes a heated outdoor pool. Electricity use is the second biggest source of emissions.

The council has already fitted solar panels to Larkfield Leisure Centre and developed an eco café at Leybourne Lakes Country Park, which is powered by a combination of solar and a water source heat pump.

Cllr Robin Betts is the cabinet member for climate change. He said: “Once fitted these solar panels will help us reduce our environmental impact considerably and enable the generation of clean and sustainable local energy for use by the leisure centre.

“We want to lead by example with the steps we are taking in response to the climate emergency.

“Decarbonising some of our major assets like our leisure centres moves us one step closer to our ambition to be carbon neutral by 2030.”