A HEATED discussion about the future of Stratton’s Grange Leisure Centre kicked off during a parish council meeting.

The normally-empty public seating area was packed out with dozens of residents eager to voice their views.

Their concerns revolved around Stratton St Margaret Parish Council’s plans to get a private company to help it run the centre.

The council’s chairman, Coun Stuart Leach, faced criticism for how the centre had been run and took several questions about how this proposed partnership would work.

Kevin Tanner asked for the centre’s accounts from the last five years to be made available to the public online, and got his wish.

Mr Tanner also claimed that the centre had been running up hundreds of thousands of pounds in debt and asked for an explanation.

Coun Leach replied that problems with staff, expensive renovations, and boiler repairs lead to increased spending in recent years, but wasn’t sure of the exact amount off-hand.

He said: “There is no debt.

“We have spent more money on this place than is coming in, but we’ve paid for that from our reserves.

“We have been trying to find out what is going wrong, we do our best with money that we are provided to offer a service for the community.”

Coun Joe Tray clarified: “All we’re trying to do is seek improvements, we aren’t selling Grange Leisure, we want to make it a great centre for everyone in Stratton.”

Glenn Castle said: “Many of us feel that our custom at the bar has been discouraged.

“There should be a public meeting where the councillors come armed with all the information they need to answer us and hear our ideas.

“Since the centre manager was made redundant and the clerk took over, it hasn’t been a success even though it used to be thriving and profitable.

“The management has failed and should step down.

“Someone else from the parish council should be given the chance to run it and keep this wonderful facility entirely parish-owned,”

Mr Castle's remarks received applause and loud agreement from other residents.

At the moment, the council is considering Halo, who also runs the Highworth Community Centre, to help them run the Stratton centre, but no decision has been made.

One person asked if the parish council could be trusted after what they saw as “mismanagement” of the community centre.

Coun Leach replied: “If you don’t trust us, there’s an election next May.”

He stressed that an alternative use for the bar was only suggested because it was mentioned in a possible partner’s feasibility statement.

He clarified: “We would look at all the suggestions offered by the partners to see if they have a better way of using each area, and if they don’t, nothing will change.”