Councillors in Helston have questioned Cornwall Council's leisure manager over plans to privatise the county's leisure centres from 2017.

Rebecca Lloyd-King was at a meeting of the council's amenities committee to discuss the unitary authority's plans for its leisure portfolio, including Helston Leisure Centre, when the current contract with Tempus Leisure runs out in less than two years time.

She told councillors that as part of Cornwall Council's budget cutting it wants to see a "sustainable" programme of leisure provision, but at a "neutral cost," and by March 2017 it would stop subsidising the service.

Currently Tempus, a charitable trust company set up to run leisure provision, runs the centres and keeps any income, while Cornwall Council subsidises the company through maintenance, utilities and the provision of the buildings.

Now Ms Lloyd-King has told councillors that according to a consultation, the centre's would be better managed if run by the private sector, with whichever organisation takes over being given the freehold, working with local organisations and councils in a "partnership board approach."

When asked by Helstons's mayor, Mike Thomas, if the council was privatising the centres, Ms Lloyd-King said they would be privatised "more than they are," and pointed out that the centres are already run by a private company, where the council has no more input than having two members on the board.

Councillor Thomas then re-phrased his question as "it's getting rid of the centres entirely?"

He was told it's "getting rid of the subsidy," and that it would be "the best opportunity to develop the centres," and would only go ahead if the companies in the market thought it was "doable."

Ms Lloyd-King added: "If the interest isn't there to follow things through [there will be] further hard questions about where does the £3.5million saving come from."

Councillor Thomas said: "I can't see that the services will be improved by a company that will want to get money back."

He added: "I honestly can't see, unless given investment from the state to which we pay our taxes, that any private company will be able to make [the leisure centre] work unless they put their fees up. Which people in this town cannot afford."

Councillor Gillian Geer asked if the council would have a chance to discuss just Helston Leisure centre at a future date, and was told that the whole leisure package was being treated as one, with one or two notable exception including Par Running Track, and the Princess Pavilion in Falmouth.

This would prevent companies from cherry picking the more profitable centres, along with legal restraints the council are investigating to prevent centres being sold off at a later date, and would allow cross subsidising from centre to centre.

She concluded that it would be "extremely unlikely" that any town council would want to take on every leisure centre in Cornwall, but that the offer was there for local councils to make a contribution for its local centre.