City Council officials in have identfied a site behind the NIA and next to the main railway line from New Street, for the new 50-metre pool, which they hope to build and complete before the 2012 Olympics.

But Labour Councillors on the city's scrutiny committee claimed they did not believe the the Tory-Liberal Democrat leadership was serious about building the pool in time for the London Games.

They claim that only £30.5 million has been identified towards the £85.5 million cost of the 50-metre pool, the replacement of Harborne Pool and the refurbishment of Stechford Cascades.

The additional running costs of the Olympic pool, estimated at £400,000, may have to be met through cuts in the leisure services budget and the possible closure of other swimming pools, they claimed.

Muhammad Afzal said: "There is no transparent means as to how the funding gap is going to be bridged.

"It is being said that the Council could raise money through selling land but, in the current economic climate, that is unlikely.

"I doubt whether the controlling group has any real intention of building a 50-metre pool.

"They are just playing with words."

Ray Hassall, the Councillor in charge of sport in Birmingham, admitted he needed to convince his colleagues that the pool plan was achievable.

He said: "I have to get a business case together and if I don’t, it will be a hatchet in the back of Hassall’s head, which is not a happy prospect.

"It has been an aspiration to have a 50-metre pool ever since I came on the Council and I am trying to turn this into reality."

Hassall also hopes that a station can be built for the pool and the NIA, which has staged several major events, including the 2007 European Indoor Athletics Championships, as part of the multi-million pound redevelopment of New Street Station, which is due to begin later this year.