The wishes of the people of Swindon to have the Oasis centre available as soon as possible – and affordable for all – should figure largely in the council,'s thinking says a new report.

Members of Swindon Borough Council’s Oasis task group – set up by the Labour chairman of the scrutiny committee Jim Robbins – will meet this week to finalise the document.

It follows a number of meetings where questions were put to council leaders present and past David Renard and Rod Bluh, director of leaseholder Seven Capital John Watkins and GLL chief executive Mark Sesnan, whose organisation ran the centre until it closed in October.

More than 1,500 people tuned in to those online meetings and Coun Robbins' final report makes much of that level of interest when asking cabinet to work with Seven Capital to get the centre opened as soon as possible.

Two key recommendations say: “Cabinet should take steps to ensure that the scheme brought forward is in line with public opinion on the future of the centre, and an extensive consultation programme is recommended to ensure public support for the new plans, and that the Oasis remains an affordable and accessible local resource.

“Cabinet and Seven Capital should set out a comprehensive engagement programme given the huge amount of public concern over the future of the site, as demonstrated by the scale of public participation in the task group meetings.”

There are criticisms of the way the centre was leased for 99 years to private company Morai initially, and then transferred to Seven Capital without the council having a say in what happens to the site and the facility.

It says: “It is clear that there are not reliable break clauses in the contract to deliver the Oasis back to council control.

“The administration should look to learn from this experience and consider their use. However, it is noted that the exercise of such clauses would be an executive function that, by law, would be a matter for cabinet.”

It also says that having given land near North Star to Seven Capital to build houses to fund a £270m snow centre, the council should set some firm guidelines.

It says: “The council should also set very clear obligations on Seven Capital to deliver the Oasis and the snow centre on the site before the majority of houses have been delivered.

“These should be clear and transparent to all to ensure that the leisure developments on site are delivered. The council has struggled to enforce these in other areas, such as the speedway stadium."

Coun Renard said his Conservative administration would carefully consider the report when agreed and published.

He added: “I thank the scrutiny task group and committee for its thorough work on this important issue.

“The Oasis is an important leisure destination and is a much-loved part of our leisure offering as a town and we all want to find a long-term sustainable future for it. cabinet will consider the recommendations and provide a detailed response at its meeting in October.”

The Oasis task group meeting starts at 6pm on Thursday in the council chamber.