Specialist leisure organisation Better should still be running Swindon’s leisure centres for the next six years with the possibility of them pulling out of the town in 2024 averted.

And there will be £2 million spent by the council on repairs and improvements to the centres.

Better, which is the trading name of GLL, runs five centres on behalf of the borough council: Haydon Centre and Gym; the Link Centre; Dorcan Leisure Complex; the Delta Tennis Centre; and Croft Sports Centre.

It also manages the Health Hydro in Milton Road, which is closed for a major refurbishment and due to open next year.

The company’s lease with Swindon Borough Council would have allowed it to give 12 months' notice to leave at the end of October 2023, meaning it would then not be running the facilities at the end of 2024.

But Swindon Borough Council’s new cabinet has agreed a deferment of that break clause, meaning, when the agreement is signed by both parties, Better will agree to run the centres until October 2028.

It will be able to give 12 months’ notice on October 31, 2027, but as part of the new agreement, the borough council will also be able to give GLL the same amount of notice that it would like a different company, or the council itself, to run the centres.

Recommending the new agreement to the cabinet, the member for finance Kevin Small said: “Under the existing agreement GLL could tell us in just a few months it will stop running the centres in 12 months, and the council is in no position at the moment to make different arrangements.

“This new agreement also gives us a break clause.

As part of the agreement the council will also provide £2m for maintenance, repairs and improvements to the centres. Coun Small said: “The funding will principally be focussed on the Link Centre which will help to reduce operating costs, particularly utilities.

“Up to £200,000 of the funding will be allocated to the Health Hydro.”

He added: “We will not be giving any money directly to GLL. We will agree on specific projects and the council will engage contractors and pay them for the work."

The cabinet member for communities and joint working, Jim Grant, has the leisure centres in his portfolio. He said: “This agreement secures the running of the centres for the next four years, and the £2m allows us to refresh them.

“As part of this, we will develop a proper leisure and sport strategy for the next 10 to 15 years.”