THE re-opening of the Carnegie Leisure Centre in Dunfermline looks certain to be further delayed due to the severe winter weather.

The £17.2 million revamp promises to deliver a fabulous facility for the city but there are fears it could be towards the end of the year before it finally opens again.

The date had already been pushed back six months by Fife Council, to this summer, but that now looks unlikely after seven weeks of snow and ice gripped West Fife.

Project co-ordinator Andy MacLellan said, "Our understanding is there were some disruptions to the contractors' works on site due to the inclement weather which affected deliveries of materials and staffing on the site.

"The anticipated date of the building handover to Fife Council is approximately late summer/autumn." Asked if the "building handover" date was the same as the opening date, or if there would still be months of "fitting out" the centre, the council would not clarify.

In response, Mr MacLellan said, "The refurbishment of Carnegie Leisure Centre continues to progress well towards its planned completion later this year.   "As previously reported, the original Edwardian part of the building has presented a number of significant technical challenges, including extensive wet and dry rot, and these have led to some unavoidable delays.    "The severe weather experienced last December clearly hasn't helped, with many staff often struggling to get into work and critical deliveries being delayed. We are currently reviewing the programme with the contractor and, collectively, we'll obviously be doing all that we can to mitigate against any further delays.  At this stage, however, we can't rule out that possibility." Councillor Joe Rosiejak, chairman of the City of Dunfermline area committee, said, "I can't control the weather, if I could we'd have the climate of Tenerife in Scotland, but we will have a fabulous facility that will be a legacy for another 150-200 years.

"I've been privileged enough to see the work being done, they've made a fantastic job of it, but they had to deal with dry rot and all kinds of problems as previous administrations failed to maintain council properties.

"We're picking up the pieces but in the end it'll be money well spent and with the project for the old Dunlop factory across the road, and Tesco finally starting work, it will be a great part of town for years to come." The popular swimming baths have now been closed for more than two years � the centre closed in December 2008 � and at the time the council said it would re-open "no later" than January 2011.

This timescale included the completion of the building works in the Autumn of 2010 and the fit-out thereafter, which was set to take a few months. In October last year council chiefs admitted the centre wouldn't open until this summer.

At the time, Grant Ward, the council's head of leisure and cultural services, explained, "We share the frustration of our customers in terms of this taking longer than we thought.

"But most understand that we've got to get it right and when we do finish the building � and the end is now in sight � we will have a facility for Dunfermline that stands in comparison with anything in Scotland.

"In the case of Carnegie you've got the original 1905 Edwardian part of the building that brings with it certain sensitivities and challenges around trying to protect and preserve that Carnegie heritage.On top of that you've got two extensions built in the '70s and '80s so it's a messy, complex, bit-of-a-guddle site."