A COMMUNITY bid to run Parklands Leisure Centre could be 'very much on the table', a meeting in Okehampton heard on Monday.

West Devon Borough Council is currently reviewing its leisure centres' strategy, with the current contract between the council and provider 1Life due to end in November 2016.

The exercise is the council's way of trying to find the most cost-effective way of running its centres in times of continued funding cuts.

The council's net service expenditure for leisure centres for 2014/15 as set out in the budget book is £548,125 — the contract fee payment for 2014/15 is budgeted at £336,000.

Leisure provision is a discretionary service rather than a statutory one, but the council has identified it as an important public service with tangible community and health outcomes and 'as such there is public benefit in seeking a cost effective manner of continuing the service'.

In the past, Okehampton Town Council, OCRA and Okehampton College have discussed the possibility of a community bid to run Parklands though nothing concrete has yet come forward.

Ross Kennerley, West Devon's natural environment and recreation manager, told members of Okehampton Town Council: 'We want to seek a new affordable situation for Parklands to thrive and build on its successes.

'The potential tender could be for 20 or even 25 years, but the process starts from here with the formal tender process in the summer. The idea is to lock on a provider as soon as possible next year.

'The exercise very clearly invites tenders from the local community, that is very much on the table and we are open to that.

'It could be a single provider or a consortium. We want local involvement in the setting of the contracts, whatever happens.

'We are not saying we are withdrawing our subsidies to the centres, but we are looking at the most affordable way to run the centres.

'We will go to market and look at service delivery and quality. We'll go and see who can respond to what is there, rather than set a target of saving X-amount of money by a certain date.'

Borough and town councillor Tony Leech said he thought a community bid to run the centre was possible — but could prove difficult.

He said: 'The idea of a partnership between the stakeholders has been floated before.

'It would be extremely difficult for a local bid to succeed, particularly with a 25-year contract with a full repair lease.

'That is a massive contract to take on board for any community. I hope that whatever happens the centre gets to keep its user group. There are issues going on now that need to be addressed in any new contract.'

Cllr Maureen McDonald said: 'Whoever gets to run the centre, like anyone who runs any business, needs to know what the consumers want.

'One of the big dangers could be that someone could walk in, just take it on, think it is a good opportunity, but not pay attention to what the users of Parklands want from the centre.'

The current contract was extended from last November to November 2016 with the specific intent of aligning the contract period with South Hams District Council.

In the summer the two councils will invite tenders from leisure providers and interested parties. This could come in the form of one large contract covering West Devon's two leisure centres and South Hams' four centres, or be individual contracts for centres led by community bids.

Among those invited to put in a tender will be the current centre operators 1Life, whose relationship with the borough council was described as 'positive with good contract performance' in a recent report.

l What are your thoughts? Write to [email protected]">[email protected] or send us a letter at Okehampton Times, The Ockment Centre, North Street, Okehampton, EX20 1AR.