Lightwater Leisure Centre in Surrey has gone into administration, despite a recent £2m revamp of the facility in a bid to boost its membership base.

Operator Lightwater Playing Fields Association became insolvent in February following years of low profit.

Improvements to the gym and sports facilities were funded via a development grant from Competition Line in 2006, in return for 70 per cent of the revenue money generated by the refurbished facility.

Further loans totalling £230,000 helped keep the facility afloat, but negotiations between the two organisations failed when the association requested a further £97,000 loan to help run the centre until September this year.

The move resulted in Competition Line taking Lightwater Playing Fields Association to the High Court, where the leisure centre was ruled insolvent.

According to Get Surrey, Competition Line director Carl Gripenstedt said the association made more money from its 30 per cent share of the revenue after the improvements than it received from the 100 per cent previously, with revenue increasing from £215,000 to £300,000.

It is speculated that Competition Line may now buy out Lightwater Leisure Centre and create a new trust to operate it.

Surrey Heath Borough Council told Leisure Opportunities: “The Lightwater Playing Field Association has been put into administration, and the administrator, Baker-Tilley, is in control of the business.

“The council, as landowner, is currently in discussions with the administrator and Competition Line about how the business can operate in the future, and how the community/leisure use of the site can be maintained.

”It is early days in that discussion, and in the meantime all parties are committed to keeping the centre open for business as usual.”

However, despite reassurances that the centre will remain open to the general public while the administrators find a new buyer, Windlesham Parish Council is concerned that it could be lost to the community in the long term if it becomes a private enterprise.