CONTROL of Cricklade Leisure Centre is set to return to the town 10 years after it came perilously close to being shut down.

After a packed public meeting and on Tuesday town councillors agreed unanimously to accept in principle Wiltshire Council’s offer to hand the centre over, along with Ockwells and part of the town hall car park, in a £3 million deal that will see it brought up to standard with a £500,000 fund for future maintenance.

There was tough questioning from local people who voiced fears that they could find themselves facing higher council tax bills if the centre failed.

But Wiltshire Council deputy leader John Thomson, whose portfolio includes leisure, said: “In the longer term we cannot continue to put a revenue stream of £70,000 into the centre.”

The unitary authority had lost £140 million in funding over the last five years and faced a huge bill for elderly and children’s care services. If no action was taken the centre would be included in a review of the council’s 80 buildings and its future could not be assured.

“Really the best solution is for it to come back into the community and you have control over its future.”

He said the Ockwells building was worth a lot of money, providing the safety net of a lot of capital if the leisure centre got into real difficulty.

Townspeople were assured by Cricklade and District Community Association, which leases and operates the centre that it was building up reserves and ringfencing money to pay for redundancies and closure of the centre should the worst happen.

It would ensure there was a financial firewall between the centre and the town council to protect the council taxpayers, but if there was a catastrophe looming there would be early indicators in the accounts which were put out regularly.

Built in 1978 following a local fundraising campaign, it has already been saved twice – in 1999 when it was transferred to the now defunct North Wiltshire District Council and 10 years ago when the district council threatened to close all its centres.

Wiltshire Council’s associate director for communities and communications Laurie Bell said if the town council agreed, the aim was to report to cabinet in December to get the £2.5 million plus £500,000 for future upkeep signed off.

At the same time as negotiations over the asset transfer conditions were going on, designs and agreements for the scope of work would be drawn up. All being well it would go out to tender in early summer next year before contractors moved on to the site in October for a 10 to 12-month build. She said Wiltshire Council would take the risks of extra costs, not the town.

The centre’s HR manager Kate Grainger said: “It’s not a David Lloyd centre. We don’t have the money that David Lloyd has, but it is a great community centre,” she said.

There were more than 500 children swimming every week and the centre was busy with classes for all ages. The public also wanted to see a fitness suite.