The campaign to save diving in North London has the support of an Olympic superstar as Barnet Council throws a £500,000 lifeline.

Barnet Council is spending £30 million to shut down and replace Copthall leisure centre in Mill Hill with two new and improved centres, though initial plans for neither centre include diving facilities.

Olympic diver Tom Daley has now given his support to the parents whose children take diving classes at the current centre and have started a campaign to save diving in the area.

The next-closest diving facilities are over 20 miles away from the original Copthall site in central London or Hertfordshire.

Following Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley’s declaration of support, Mr Daley, who won bronze medals for diving at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, expressed his endorsement of the campaign over Twitter.

READ MORE: Copthall leisure centre campaign to Save Barnet Diving gets support from Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley

He said: “I want as many people as possible to have the same access to diving as I did. I hope the right decision is made.”

After a petition from the Save Barnet Diving campaign received over 4,000 signatures in the summer, Barnet Council pledged to reconsider its plans to factor in diving facilities.

The petition has since then gathered 9,000 total signatures.

In light of the public response, leader of the council Cllr Richard Cornelius announced he is prepared to offer £500,000 in council money to help build a new diving centre.

The move will also see council land designated to build the facilities with the rest of the money coming from the Mayor of London and public donations.

Cllr Cornelius said: “In various rounds of public consultation we were given no impression the diving needed to be preserve and then this wellspring of petitioners came out of nowhere.

“We received many very moving letters from children and we could not ignore the 9,000 signatures on the petition so we saw we should do something to preserve diving in Barnet.

“It is too late and would be too expensive to change the current plans and so we propose to build a new facility especially on council land for diving.

“Our £500,000 will be helped along by funding from the mayor and the regional government as well as tapping into the resource of those 9,000 signatories.”

The land for the proposed new diving centre has yet to be identified.

Wendy Kravetz, who has led the Save Barnet Diving Campaign, said: "The council's offer  is welcomed as a step in the right direction.

"However, we are calling for replacement diving facilities to be included in the facilities mix of the £30 million development and suggest those funds go torwards it.

“We do of course welcome the opportunity find out further details and to work with the council in finding a solution. 

 “We also welcome Tom’s support as this is likely to be a landmark case for diving across the country.

“Diving groups and councils will be watching Barnet Council’s decisions closely which will affect decisions surrounding diving everywhere in the future.”

Plans for the future of diving in Barnet will be discussed at a council meeting in Hendon town hall, the Burroughs, tonight (December 13) as the council votes on the matter.

Parents involved in the campaign are expected to attend and make representations to the council.

Richard Cornelius has been approached for comment.