The contract to run Blandford Leisure Centre is set to be extended by two years.

With the existing agreement expiring at the end of next year, North Dorset District Council’s cabinet is being recommended to extend the deal until the end of March 2022.

The move is being made despite the council being due for abolition in April as part of local government reorganisation.

Following a request by the council’s cabinet in February, work has been underway to agree a new contract for the leisure centre’s running, with the existing deal due to end at the end of 2019.

In October, shadow Dorset council’s executive committee gave permission for extensions to be agreed for Blandford and Ferndown leisure centres.

Tony Hurley, the district council’s leisure commissioning manager, said that negotiations needed to be started before the new council’s formation to avoid the risk of ‘uncertainty’.

“Due to the time it would take to procure new operating arrangements and allow for existing contracts to expire, the shadow executive committee has agreed that operating contracts at the Blandford and Ferndown centres be extended until 2022,” he says.

“If these negotiations did not commence until after April 2019 then this would leave little time for their conclusion and thereby risk uncertainty for all parties and the community.”

The current contract for the lease and to run Blandford Leisure Centre is held by Sport and Leisure Management (SLM) with the agreement starting in 2011.

Contributions towards the district council’s costs of running the facility are made annually by several town and parish councils as well as by Dorset County Council as a result of the sale of Sturminster Newton Leisure Centre.

The district council’s cabinet is being recommended to approve an extension to the deal with SLM which would run until March 31, 2022, although it would be possible for the new council to end this at an earlier stage.

A decision on whether to agree the extension will be made at Monday’s (December 10) cabinet meeting.

Its members have already allocated £30,000 towards the costs of the process.