"When I was a Cornwall Councillor up until 2019 I was a strong critic of the at the time Lib Dem led Cornwall Council's decision to give all the council-run leisure centres to a private company GLL to run with s 25 year contract.
This was a poorly put together deal and in subsequent years when there were issues raised with various parts of it the then leader of the council who was responsible for the deal admitted that he hadn't read the small print.
We now find ourselves in a situation where the new Conservative Administration at County Hall is having to clear up. 8 years of the previous Administration's mess.
This includes now having to look at the future of these leisure centres thanks to the financial black hole caused in part by these past issues.
Today myself and Scott Mann MP met with the Cornwall Councillor now responsible for leisure centres, and urged him to consider every solution, including working with the community, to keep these valuable assets open for us all.
One idea that Scott shared is that the leisure centre in Camelford is already run by a community group, and this is definitely worth exploring as an alternative operation model in other places if possible.
Cornwall Council will soon be consulting on this with the public and I will share these details when available.
I remain committed to working with all involved to ensure Cornwall has a leisure offer fit for all."