Mr MacDonald told the comhairle’s education committee he believed councillors could reserve the decision.

He said: “We might have agreed to whatever proposal was buried in the minutiae of all the detail.

“Nothing is set in stone. If we agreed on something that we weren’t aware of the consequences of, we can change our minds, because that’s our prerogative in here.”

Stornoway South councillor Rae MacDonald told the meeting he felt more would be lost than gained by proceeding with the closures.

The meeting also heard that local groups were interested in taking over Lionel’s pool.

Stornoway South councillor Angus McCormack said councillors had “all the facts” when the decision was taken in February.

He said: “It wasn’t a good decision then.

“And there’s a whole host of other decisions that we took in February, which I didn’t like very much, but we took them nonetheless.”

Mr McCormack said councillors had to consider what next steps could be taken.

Officials said the education committee could not change the decision made on the budget.

They recommended the comhairle proceed with a consultation on the proposals.