Swimming pools in Staffordshire and the surrounding areas could struggle amidst a reported shortage of chlorine.

Operators of the sites have responded to claims of a national shortage of the chemical, used to keep facilities clean.

None of them have so far highlighted any urgent worries, but bosses say they are monitoring the situation.

A spokesperson for East Staffordshire Borough Council commented: "The council's leisure facilities are operated by our partner Everyone Active.

"The council continues to liaise with Everyone Active who as a company are proactively managing the situation regarding stock levels.

"The leisure facilities currently have plenty of supplies in stock and Everyone Active have contingency measures in place should they become necessary, such as alternative suppliers or stock transfers between their various sites."

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, which operates the Jubilee 2 site in Newcastle town centre, says it makes its own chlorine liquid.

A spokesperson for the authority said: "We are aware of the issues but we actually use salt to produce our own chlorine liquid.

"If we were unable to use salt, for whatever reason, we have a back-up alternative with chlorine tablets.

"But, we are monitoring the situation."

Everybody Health and Leisure operates a number of swimming pools just across the border in Cheshire East (these include pools in Alsager, Congleton, Macclesfield and Sandbach).

A spokesperson for the group said: "We were fortunate to see this shortage coming.

"While this issue has only been widely reported in recent weeks, the reality is this has been an ongoing pressure for several months now.

"We have been actively working with a number of suppliers to secure what stocks we can and we currently have a healthy reserve and additional orders on their way.

"Some other local authorities haven't been as fortunate and have seen the introduction of reduced pool programmes. This is not the case in Cheshire East."

They added: "While we do not anticipate any disruption to our current pool programmes, we have been working on a contingency plan to ensure greater resilience."

Meanwhile, it's understood Freedom Leisure – which operates facilities in Stafford borough – says it has not ben affected by the shortage.