Cabinet members have approved a budget of almost £2 million to help reopen three leisure facilities which shut suddenly.

At a specially convened Sevenoaks District Council meeting held tonight councillors 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 tonight (March 23) to discuss the future of all three sites and how the council should move forward.

In their report, officers recommended members approve a budget of up to £1.83 million to help reopen the facilities.

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 funding is set to be borrowed from earmarked council reserves which will be repaid.

The report states the reason for this decision as: "Access to leisure services plays an essential role in reconnecting with communities, bringing people together through sport and physical activities.

"Therefore, it is important that the council urgently agrees a way forward for protecting its leisure facilities in the district."

It adds the council would ideally want to "limit the time its centres are closed to avoid existing users joining other centres and the negative health impacts on residents and local communities."

The report also confirms the main focus of the council is to ensure the facilities can reopen at the "earliest possible opportunity".

It laid out plans to find a short-term operator to run the sites whilst it assesses the type of services it wants to support in the future, reviews the facilities and finds a new long-term operator.

Speaking earlier this week to KentOnline, Cllr Roderick Hogarth (Con), said that the closures offer Sevenoaks council a chance to look at its facilities and see how it can move them forward.

He said: "It would be nice to have some really creative input and is a big opportunity to design the services to the community that is more fit for the post-pandemic world.

"It is nice to think we could provide some vision for the health and wellbeing needs."

Discussing the report, questions were raised by councillors over these costs and how they would be adhered to and the struggles facing leisure centres nationally, including the rising cost of utilities, was also noted.

Councillors emphasised the need to protect the facilities as soon as possible to both retain staff and customers and said they were working to a timescale of "weeks not months" to reopen them.

The council also confirmed it is working with Sencio and its insolvency practitioner to regain possession of the centres after concerns were raised over the condition of the buildings.

Members did approve the officer's recommendation but the report is now set to be discussed at a special council meeting on April 4.

Sarah Robson, the council’s chief officer for people and places, added: "We are one-hundred percent committed to reopening the leisure facilities as soon as possible and with the cabinet recommending funding and the process for appointing a new leisure provider, we have made significant progress."