CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a leisure centre on parts of a city park have been scrapped by civic chiefs.

A decision on the future of River Park Leisure Centre is one step closer after city bosses today dropped plans to rebuild the facility on tennis courts and turf in North Walls Recreation Ground.

The scheme was fiercely contested by the Save the Rec campaign, one of several groups which marched through Winchester on Saturday to protest the council’s lack of consultation on major developments.

Options still on the table include refurbishing the ageing leisure centre, building new facilities at Bar End or rebuilding in phases on the current site and nearby skate park.

Building a new centre is expected to cost up to £28 million, which today's cabinet meeting heard is likely to be more than it can afford on its own.

City bosses are negotiating with groups including Winchester University and Hampshire County Council to secure cash for a new facility.

Cllr Ian Tait said replacing River Park could provide Hampshire with an “Olympic legacy” and urged the county council to “take the baton” using its “broad financial shoulders”.

Cllr Kim Gottlieb said refurbishment, likely to be the cheapest option for the city council, would be “inadequate" and “unambitious”.

Speaking as a member of the public, he said: “A city like Winchester should aspire for a state-of-the-art centre,” he said. “That is what a council is supposed to do and there’s no excuse for us to aim lower.”

Refurbishing the 40-year-old facility would extend its life by around 15 years.

But controversy still surrounds River Park, with campaigners claiming that the council has unduly favoured the leisure centre’s current provider.

Cllr Gottlieb and campaigner Rosemary Burns told the meeting that civic chiefs gave DC Leisure “first option” to design and build any new centre under a mechanism agreed in 2012/13.

Chief executive Simon Eden rejected the claims, saying any new centre will go out to tender and every council decision has been taken in light of legal advice and value for taxpayers.

The freedom of information watchdog is set to investigate Winchester City Council over requests for documents on the leisure centre made by campaigner Martin Wilson.

Mr Wilson has previously accused the council of "defrauding" the public over its management of the centre since 1992 and has lodged a number of requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

Mr Eden told the Hampshire Chronicle that the council has only withheld certain legal advice and commercially sensitive information about DC Leisure's profit and operating costs.

"Everything else about the process has been absolutely transparent," he said.