Talks have begun to offload leisure centres in Machynlleth and Llanidloes to the community as Powys County Council moves ahead with a reshaping of facilities in the county.

At a meeting of all three Powys councils scrutiny committee on 17 June, councillors probed the leisure facilities update to provide advice and recommendations on the proposals ahead of the report going to a Cabinet meeting for a decision on 14 July.

Currently the leisure centres are operated on behalf of the council by Freedom Leisure.

The report explains that a final decision on the future of leisure centres is supposed to happen in the spring of 2028 – which would allow the new tender process to be for a “redesigned” leisure portfolio.

The report explains that council staff have already met with councillors in towns including Llanidloes and Machynlleth to explore “the viability” of potentially unloading the leisure centres to be run by community led organisations.

Committee vice-chairman, Cllr Gary Mitchell said that it is “unlikely” that the council will be able to keep the same number of leisure centres as it currently has under the new contract, and that some will close.

The timeline given for the review and retendering process has “engagement” between council residents and organisations scheduled to take place from September to November/December this year.

Cabinet member for customers, digital and community services, Cllr Raiff Devlin said: “The purpose of the engagement will not be for people to come along and save their leisure centre.

“That’s not what we’re looking at.

“The purpose is to allow people to have the opportunity to shape what leisure services will look like from 2030 onwards .

“The needs of the communities have evolved and changed, and we need to make sure that any new contract from 2030 onwards is reflective of that.”