SWINDON Council says it has received strong interest from companies, sports groups and other organisations in potentially taking over the running of its leisure centres.

The council paid a £3.6m subsidy to run its leisure and cultural facilities in 2012/13 and is seeking alternative ways of providing these services to cope with cuts in Government funding and increased demand for services, especially for caring services.

Leisure facilities, including golf courses and swimming pools, could be transferred to commercial organisations, similar to the deal with Moirai Capital Investments which secured the redevelopment of the Oasis. Other options include centres run wholly or partly by non-for profit groups or consortiums of local sports clubs.

The deadline for expressions of interest was yesterday. Some of the interested parties will be invited to work up their plans in more detail.

Coun Keith Williams, the cabinet member for highways, strategic transport and leisure, said: “There’s been a range of interest, both from larger commercial and charitable leisure organisations, trust-based leisure organisations, which is encouraging.

“And there’s also been expressions of interest from community groups, so it’s clear there’s been a wide degree of interest in leisure, in Swindon’s leisure portfolio of services.”

Coun Williams said he had not seen the expressions of interest, but expected the likes of Greenwich Leisure Ltd would submit something, given its presence in Swindon as the operator of the Oasis.

The Swindon Sports Forum, which is supported by the charity Voluntary Action Swindon, held a meeting in April to urge clubs to think about bidding to take on a long-term lease or freehold of a centre to gain funding from the body Sport England.

Sport England said it would be willing to consider bids from either the council or the incoming provider for funding to improve these facilities and ensure their sustainability.

This would be under a programme called the Improvement Fund, offering grants of between £150 and £500,000.

Swindon Sports Forum chairman Stuart Coffey said: “The meeting went well and there was interest from various groups. “There’s a taekwondo club interested, there’s table tennis clubs interested.

“There’s a consortium of clubs interested in running specifically the Dorcan Centre. Raychem Netball Club, Swindon Basketball Club and North Wilts Hockey Club are considering putting in a bid for the Dorcan Centre.

“It’s at a very early stage yet, but there are clubs out there that are interested and they are now contacting VAS to make sure their governance and their internal processes are up to the standards required to run effectively a board of trustees for the centres.”