Town and parish taxpayers could be asked to shell out to help keep the district's four leisure centres at Kingsbridge, Dartmouth, Ivybridge and Totnes running.

At the moment it already costs the district council £695,000 a year to keep the four sports centres open – even though the day-to-day operation at each centre was handed over to the Taunton-based 'not-for-profit' private company Tone Leisure years ago.

And the council fears that the taxpayer bills will only keep rising.

Now it is looking at how it wants to see the centres funded and run.

One possibility is finding partners to help shoulder the financial burden of keeping all four centres open.

Another is asking towns and parishes – or even schools – to step in and help with the leisure centre operations.

In a letter which has gone out to all towns and parishes, the South Hams Council corporate director Alan Robinson spelled out that one question to be answered was: 'Should there be a future role for town/parish councils and/or community colleges in discretionary service delivery, as part of the Council's approach to localisation of services and assets?'

The district council is now trying to arrange meetings with the parish and town councillors to talk in detail about the key issues facing South Hams Council over the future running of the leisure centres.

Mr Robinson said: 'Potential opportunities will hopefully emerge through such discussions, with the possible exploration of future partnerships to help the Council formulate its approach to future leisure provision.'

Both Kingsbridge and Ivybridge boast a sports centre and swimming pool owned by the district council. In Totnes the sports centre and pavilion reception is owned by the council but the pool is owned and run by the Tadpool charity.

In Dartmouth, the sports centre is owned by the council but to complicate matters further a private swimming pool trust is right in the middle of plans to build a £2m new pool next door and linked to it.

The South Hams Council review of its leisure centres has been instigated by the fact that the council's leisure management contract with Tone Leisure runs out on November 30, 2016.

The council set up a special working group to look at what will happen after then – which includes a brief to consult with all the 'key stakeholders'.

Mr Robinson said the council is going to have to decide over conflicting priorities for how the leisure centres are operated which involved:

l Reducing the amount it spends on subsidies/management fees as well as what it spends on the buildings etc.

l Improving the quality of the leisure services to match expectations.

l Improving the health of the local community, improving activities for children and young people and promoting social inclusion.

Mr Robinson said: 'Strategic considerations that will influence our future approach will include whether leisure provision is going to continue to be a future core business for the council in the current economic climate and what will be an affordable level of service provision in the longer term?'

He added: 'Much of the leisure sector operates in a competitive market and investment needs to keep pace with competitions and customer demand/ expectation, because an individual's leisure expenditure is discretionary.'

There are also concerns about competition from directions such as the Life Centre in Plymouth and future leisure proposals for Torbay. And that is on top of private facilities like health clubs and fitness suites.

Mr Robinson questioned whether the towns and parishes should become involved and also asked: 'Could a future service delivery/asset management arrangement be developed with a partner that results in a lower cost of leisure provision for the council tax payer?'