PLANS to hand Worcester's sports centres and play activities to an outside provider have been criticised by a would-be MP - who claims there is "no rationale" to it.

Councillor Joy Squires, the city's Labour parliamentary candidate, says too many risks are being taken with the project.

As your Worcester News revealed last week, Worcester City Council wants to hive out all of its leisure centres and community-based sport and play development work to an as-yet-unidentified third party operator.

The move is partly aimed at saving cash, although the council has yet to reveal deals of what the expected savings are likely to be.

It follows a previous attempt to hand sports centres to Wychavon Leisure Trust, which was scrapped last year after the body pulled out.

Cllr Squires, challenging the Conservative cabinet, said: "This approach failed last time and I wonder what makes you think it will work now, especially as a significant resource will have to be spent on finding out if it's possible.

"I was also surprised to learn you are looking to outsource play and art provision, it's one of the most successful things this council does.

"It reaches thousands of children and I don't see how it being provided by somebody else will allow it to reach more people - it seems to have been 'lobbed in' without any thought or rationale."

Her criticism has been rejected by the authority, which says the hunt for a new provider will be different this time around.

When talks were ongoing with Wychavon Leisure Trust, chain gyms David Lloyd and Fit4Free opened up Worcester outlets which meant council-run venues suddenly took a financial hit, leading to the deal collapsing.

At the time, it would have saved taxpayers an estimated £160,000 a year.

Managing director Duncan Sharkey said: "It didn't work last time around (the collapsed deal with Wychavon Leisure Trust) principally because we had a lot of competition on the market just at that time.

"Our finances took a sudden hit, we said 'our figures look like this', and all of a sudden they then changed.

"We've got a lot more stability now and a better offer."

Councillor Simon Geraghty, the leader, said: "This is not a 'shock', we've been looking at this for some time."