A budget of almost £2 million has been approved to help reopen three leisure facilities which shut suddenly.

At a specially convened Sevenoaks council meeting on Tuesday night members discussed and agreed a way forward for the council-owned sites.

Sevenoaks and Edenbridge Leisure Centres and Lullingstone Park Golf Course were forced to close after the firm which runs them went into liquidation.

Staff received notice operators Sencio Community Leisure called in an insolvency firm and ceased trading last week as it could not afford to keep running the sites.

It had been hit with financial struggles in the past following the pandemic and received a £300,000 bailout from Sevenoaks council to tide it over, as well as £235,000 from Sport England.

But the local authority took the decision in July 2021 to decline further requests for help.

The closures have also left swimming group Edenbridge Piranhas – who used the leisure centre in Edenbridge for nearly 30 years – without access to a pool.

It is believed the decision to close the three centres was taken at an emergency board meeting on Wednesday, March 8.

Following the news, an emergency cabinet meeting was held on March 23 to discuss the future of all three sites and how the council should move forward.

They agreed on a budget of up to £1.83 million to reopen the sites.

The money would cover the costs of running the centres and be put towards maintenance and safety of the sites whilst negotiations with the Insolvency Practitioner are finalised.

It would also be used for an interim leisure operator to oversee the facilities for two years or until a new operator is found.

The plans were discussed further at a full council meeting on Tuesday where councillors agreed to start the process of appointing a provider to run the facilities for up to two years.

They also agreed to investigate why Sencio ceased trading and what lessons can be learnt for future leisure contracts.

The council confirmed it has been working with Sencio and its insolvency practitioner, Evelyn Partners, to regain possession of the leisure sites as soon as possible.

Despite ongoing discussions with the Sencio board of trustees, it says it is yet to surrender the leases and return the keys to the council.

Last week, deeds of surrender for the leases was shared with Sencio’s chief executive and chair of the board. However the local authority says they have not yet returned a signed copy.

The council says it is now progressing its legal options to regain possession of the leisure sites from Sencio for what it alleges is a failure to comply with a number of the lease conditions.

Sencio and Evelyn Partners have also chosen not to hold its meeting to go into liquidation until mid-April, nearly a month after closing the doors.

The local authority says this will delay government funded backdated pay and redundancy payments to staff.

Sarah Robson, Sevenoaks council’s chief officer for people and places, said: “While it is positive news we have agreed funding and the process for appointing a new leisure provider, we are deeply disappointed and frustrated by the lack of urgency on the part of Sencio to return the leases.

"All the time the facilities remain closed and Sencio prolongs the surrender of its leases, it could slow down our plans to reopen the sites and will impact our communities who want to use the facilities as well as small businesses that depend on them for a living.

"We believe the Sencio board has a duty to all our residents and local businesses to surrender the leases with immediate effect so we can move forward with our plans to reopen the leisure sites with a new operator as soon as possible."

Sencio has been approached for comment.