BOROUGH council bosses have defended their decision to choose an in-house bidder to take on the running of Cheltenham's "crown jewel" leisure services.
Twenty two organisations showed an interest in running the likes of Town Hall and Leisure@.
Four of those completed the relevant paperwork to be formally considered, including the team which currently runs the services.
And it was only the council's in-house bid which was judged to meet the "minimum criteria" set by the authority.
After a request by the Echo, the council has now disclosed the names of the unsuccessful bidders in order to show the process was "fair and equitable".
They were Sports and Leisure Management Ltd (SLM), Parkwood Leisure and South West Community Leisure Trust with Serco Leisure Operating Ltd as managing agents.
The three bidders, all of which failed to meet the council's minimum requirements, have 60 plus years of combined experience providing leisure services for local authority clients.
SLM currently holds 28 council leisure contracts with nearly 77 managed sites across the country, while Parkwood Leisure operates 84 leisure facilities on behalf of 27 clients.
Robust
A spokeswoman for Cheltenham Borough Council said: "The evaluation was carried out in an objective and robust way and only one of the candidates showed the approach appropriate to provide a cost effective, market-led approach to the provision of this important area of work for the people of Cheltenham."
The council is now in a 30-day period when its decision can be questioned by the unsuccessful bidders.
Councillor Andrew Chard (C, Leckhampton) said the Conservatives are considering challenging the decision on the grounds "the council as a whole has not been consulted".
Councillor Rob Garnham (C, Park), the Conservative group leader, said: "We need to be sure that all of the bids were considered fairly and with such a major decision as this we have to make sure that we have explored every avenue.
"It may be that the in-house provider will be the organisation to take us forward but with so many other firms in the market, many of which have experience of running leisure services for other councils, we have to be sure that we have made the right choice."
