Union and council clash over collapse of deal to sell leisure company

DENBIGHSHIRE Council has confirmed it spent £62,000 on expert advice for the now collapsed deal to sell its leisure company.

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The council released the figure after trade union Unison criticised the authority for its "botched" plan to sell Denbighshire Leisure Ltd.

The union commissioned an independent report carried out by the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE), citing a "lack of transparency" in the council's "consultation and competitive tender processes".

Unison says the report describes the decision-making process behind the failed £1.5m deal as "fundamentally flawed".

The council has hit back at the claims, saying they could have answered many questions within the report if they had been involved in the production of the document.

At a behind-closed-doors meeting in March, councillors backed the deal to sell DLL, with the council's eight leisure centres and other venues, with backing from private equity investor, Merseyside-based River Capital, 20 votes to 17.

The council claimed the deal would safeguard DLL's future, but the sale collapsed at the end of April, with the investors unhappy over leaks.

The union later argued public money spent on leisure in Denbighshire should not go to companies looking to extract profit from the local community for a “quick buck”.