GL1 leisure centre to reopen by end of October says council

Gloucester City Council said it planned to reopen the facilities at GL1 by the end of October

A council has said it plans to reopen a leisure centre by the end of October.

Gloucester City Council revealed it has three preferred bidders to run GL1.

Councillors also said they would guarantee the 150 or so staff who lost their jobs an interview with the new management company, but could not guarantee them a job.

GL1 closed in September after charitable trust Aspire went into liquidation.

A special Gloucester City Council meeting was held on Thursday night to discuss GL1.

Aspire trustees also spoke at the start of the meeting saying they had debts of £500,000 and asked the council to write it off multiple times.

Council leader Richard Cook said not writing off the debt was the right decision as it would have been a "waste of taxpayers money".

It was revealed Aspire also had issues with their pension bond due to the financial difficulties they were under which caused additional pressures.

A cyber-attack on Gloucester City Councils services was also blamed as they lost control of customer management software and had to take bookings over the phone, the meeting heard.

GL1 remains closed to the public, but the swim club has been allowed to use it.