ONE admires the resolute stance of those involved in the planned Tropicana regeneration, when they insist the project will go ahead - but we have to question whether this assertion stems from blind optimism rather than fact.

ONE admires the resolute stance of those involved in the planned Tropicana regeneration, when they insist the project will go ahead - but we have to question whether this assertion stems from blind optimism rather than fact.

It's now more than a decade since the seafront pool closed its doors for the final time, and once again it seems we're no nearer to its long-awaited reinvention.

Projected timetables continue to be moved further and further back, and this week's latest delay is accompanied by an admission that developers are now unable to even guess when work may finally begin.

Of course, we recognise these are tough economic times, and can empathise with firms who are unwilling to sanction a multi-million pound outlay on a project of this scale.

"Nobody could have forecast the mess the country would be in," North Somerset Council's tourism executive, Elfan Ap Rees, told us this week - and he's absolutely right.

His subsequent reassurance that all parties remain committed to making this �49million dream a reality is encouraging too.

But these remarks are followed by the qualification that 'it is impossible to predict what will happen' and 'it is out of our hands'.

It's inevitable, then, that the people of Weston will come to question what the future holds - and whether Lifestation@Tropicana will ever see the light of day.

After ten years, we don't want more optimistic platitudes and more hopeful years of 'wait and see'.

Weston needs a bold new Tropicana to sit alongside its exciting new pier and its smart new seafront - but if we're not going to get one, it's surely better to knock the place down and return it to beach than leave it as the crumbling eyesore it is right now.

Love the Tropicana plans or loathe them, we can all agree that inaction is the worst idea of all.