It will cost £82 million to bring leisure centres and swimming pools in Powys up to the standard needed to meet carbon Net Zero obligations, councillors have heard.

At a scrutiny committee meeting on 18 March councillors were given an update on a review into leisure services that could see some leisure centres and swimming pools closed.

Cllr Gareth E Jones, who chaired the working group, said that “quite a number” of councillors including himself had expected to be discussing the future of “leisure centre x” and “swimming pool y.”

Cllr Jones said: “The one point I should stress is the work around the maintenance backlog and the figures required to bring all of the centres up to Net Zero, which I can’t remember the actual figure but it’s very large.”

He asked if the officers could help him, and interim head of community services Jenny Ashton said: “It’s £82million.”

The report explained that councillors had found that the running and operational costs for the leisure facilities could be met within the fee that the council pays Freedom Leisure who are running the centres at a profit.

But the problem the funding needed to maintain and improve the buildings is more than the “budget available.”