Swindon Borough Council is looking to sell a portfolio of nine leisure and golf businesses in and around Swindon.

The properties include leaseholds on six leisure centres and three golf courses and the council said it is looking to sell the lot either as one package or as two separate portfolios.

The portfolio includes The Link; Delta Tennis Centre; Croft Sports Centre; Dorcan Leisure Centre; Health Hydro; Haydon Centre; Broom Manor Golf Complex; Highworth Golf Course; Moredon Par 3 Golf Course.

The businesses offer a diverse range of facilities including indoor tennis, an ice rink, golf courses, swimming pools, a floodlit golf driving range, sports halls, all-weather hockey and football pitches, an all-weather running track, grass sports pitches, squash courts, and indoor netball dome, and a climbing wall.

The properties are being brought to the market by independent property adviser GVA on behalf of the council. According to GVA, the portfolio has achieved an annual turnover of £5.1m, with 33,000 members/leisure card holders, and casual daily fee users at 1.9m per annum.

Keith Williams, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for highways, strategic transport and leisure, said: “We were greatly encouraged by the soft market testing exercise we carried out earlier this year which indicated that there is real interest in our leisure offer from a wide range of organisations.

“I hope this is a defining moment for leisure in Swindon as it is the first step in a process that could secure the future of our leisure facilities for many years to come.”

Swindon is home to circa 209,000 people. The local population increased by 15 per cent between 2001 and 2011, and is forecast to grow a further 17 per cent by 2026.