Beau Sejour and Footes Lane subject to three bids

Beau Sejour Leisure Centre has made annual financial losses of £500,000 or more in recent years

Three companies have applied to operate Guernsey's loss-making Beau Sejour Leisure Centre and Footes Lane stadium.

The Culture and Leisure Department went out to tender in November and the deadline for submissions by interested companies passed on 8 February.

A spokesman for the department said it would not reveal the names of the three companies until it had finished evaluating the bids.

The outsourcing is part of wider States plans to find £31m worth of savings.

The department's political board members visited seven sites in the UK last year to analyse how leisure centres were run there.

'Following guidelines'

They have reassured islanders that Beau Sejour, which is the island's only leisure centre and Footes Lane, which hosts athletics, rugby and football, will continue to be run as affordable, public access facilities.

It is intended that the successful company will operate the facilities for 10 years, although the final arrangements will need approval from a majority of States members.

Board member Deputy David Inglis told BBC Guernsey they were "following guidelines laid down by the Policy Council to investigate alternative ways of running Beau Sejour".