The owner of a swim academy says he is ‘excited’ about an imminent £300,000 expansion and credits its success to it being ‘all he thinks about’.

Burnham’s swim and sports academy, in Berrow Road, has had proposals for a new pool, sauna, spa and two new fitness studios approved by Sedgemoor District Council, with work set to start within the next few weeks.

The land at the front of the site, next to Berrow Road, has been earmarked for the new building, which will include a pool for younger children.

Mark Cox-Conklin, who owns the academy with his wife, Sara, told the Mercury the expansion is needed to meet the demand of the club.

A health and fitness club was developed on the site back in 2011 and Mr Cox-Conklin said there was always a plan to expand even more.

He said: “There was always a plan for phase two.

“We have 60 classes a week and this follows on from the 2011 expansion. We have just been growing since 2008.

“The pool we have has been here for 40 years so we knew we had to do something to accommodate the younger generation.”

The council unanimously backed the plans and Mr Cox-Conklin puts the success of the academy down to the team’s ‘commitment’.

He said: “I don’t think I am surprised by the response we have had from the academy as we do things professionally and it is all we think about.

“That level of commitment means we have been successful. We do things to the next level and from birth until death.

“We have babies coming in from just after they are born and then people aged 93 and 94. It helps also that we have great staff and it is an exciting time.”

The planned pool – which will be 5m by 10m – will have warmer water to accommodate more classes for parents and their children.

Mr Cox-Conklin said work on the new building will hopefully begin in the ‘next three to four weeks’.

He added it will take around six months to complete, with the hope it will be open next summer.