DENBIGHSHIRE Council has been urged to carry out discussions on the sale of its leisure company in public.
The council voted in favour of selling Denbighshire Leisure Ltd (DLL) during a behind-closed-doors meeting last month.
Following the decision, Cllr Gwyneth Ellis resigned from the council’s cabinet, stating that she had major concerns about the proposed sale.
She felt there had been a lack of information about future growth, the shareholdings for staff, the loss of control of leisure services, and the privatisation of the company.
Backbench Rhyl councillor Brian Jones has also now expressed concerns about the proposal, claiming he “couldn’t see anything” residents would get out of the plan.
Denbighshire Council argues the plan will save money and “safeguard services” for the future.
DLL said “a number of briefings were held with councillors” and said Cllr Jones’ comments were “unfortunate and misinformed”.
Cllr Ellis has called for more transparency during the process.
The Plaid Cymru councillor said: “I feel that any decisions, such as discussing the sale of DLL, should follow the seven principles of public life, or the Nolan principles, which apply to anyone who works in the public office, either elected or employed, specifically the openness principle which says that decisions should be taken in an open and transparent manner and information should not be withheld from the public, unless there are clear reasons for doing so.”
She added: “In this case I believe the public interest is greater served by being open and transparent.”
Cllr Jones said his “private sector background” mean he “couldn’t be in favour of what was put on the table by Denbighshire in the way that it was put on the table”.
He said: “There was information missing. We didn’t know who the private investor was.
“That was guarded until the absolute death, so I couldn’t be in favour of what they were asking us to vote for, and coupled with all that, when you look what Denbighshire Council and the residents were going to get out of this, I couldn’t see anything.”
He added: “The assurances that leisure services will be protected didn’t stack up for me either because there was no business plan.
“When you work in the private sector, you need hard facts and legally binding documents, not just ‘trust us and everything will be alright’.”
He added: “And Denbighshire County Council will be left with the uptake of the buildings.”
Denbighshire Leisure Ltd runs eight leisure centres, the SC2 Water Park in Rhyl, the 1891 Restaurant and Bar at Rhyl’s theatre, Rhyl Pavilion Theatre, Rhyl Town Hall, North Wales Bowls Centre, Nova in Prestatyn, and Ruthin Craft Centre and its Cafe R eatery.
The company employs more than 500 members of staff.
A spokeswoman for DLL said: “We are very surprised by Cllr Brian Jones’ statements, given he refused to attend the three briefings offered to him and the Conservative party.
“As part of the process, a number of briefings were held with councillors where they were given all the detail and relevant information on the proposal.
“All other political parties took the opportunity to meet with the relevant officers to obtain all of the detailed information.
“His comments are unfortunate and misinformed.
“Had he attended the meetings, he would have had all the information.”
A spokeswoman for Denbighshire Council said: “At the meeting on 26th March 2025, councillors were provided with detailed information relating to the proposal which included information regarding share ownership.
“Following receipt of this information, councillors agreed by a majority vote to proceed.”
