Cheshire East has authorised officers to 'dispose' of Holmes Chapel Leisure Centre if alternative options can't be found with the school or other partners to keep it open.

The environment and communities committee voted by seven to Holmes Chapel Leisure Centre to delegate authority to the director of planning and environment to make any decisions regarding the future of the centre.

Chris Allman, director of planning and environment, told councillors the policy decision was made in March 2024 to explore other alternative options regarding the leisure centre.

"At that point, it wasn't explicit what all those options were, and what we're trying to do now is just regularise that position by making explicit that disposal of that asset may be one option," he said.

"I will reiterate, that is one option.

"What we want to do is now work very closely with the school and other partners, EHL is one of those, the town council is another one of those, to explore what options are available to us, ultimately, to keep it open.

"But if those do fail, then the delegation that is set before members is to delegate that final option to me to dispose of it in line with that policy that was set in March 2024."

Cllr Andrew Kolker (Con), whose Dane Valley ward covers Holmes Chapel, said Cheshire East had done an 'excellent job' in investing in its leisure centres when other councils had closed theirs down.

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"Having said that Holmes Chapel is a peculiar case," he said.

"It's very, very closely aligned to the school and there is another facility within Holmes Chapel which does get an awful lot of use and so it does make sense to implement the decision that was made by this committee nearly two years ago."

He added: "There are difficulties, because you're asking a school to take on the running of an expensive facility. Schools aren't flush with money either…

"It's just too much money for them to pay for which is understandable, and we've got to navigate our way through that."

The Conservatives were not happy with delegating the decision to officers, arguing it was the job of the committee to set policy and scrutinise.

Labour and the Independents said the policy decision was made in 2024.

Cllr Mary Brooks (Macclesfield, Lab) said her recollection was it was costing 'an awful lot of money' to keep the leisure centre open.

"There already is a facility within the town run by Everybody Health… I don't think it would be wise to actually vote against this proposal," she said.