A major investment is on the way to Llanfyllin Sports Centre.

Glyn Owen and Rebecca Sutton, from Freedom Leisure, which runs the centre on behalf of Powys County Council, revealed the revamp plans will include new gym equipment, upgrades to flooring and repairs to lighting and changing rooms, and is likely to begin in either December this year or January 2019.

Speaking to the town council, they said that £15,000 has been spent on the centre over the last year.

Mr Owen said: “I think Llanfyllin is one of our poorest equipped gyms. I think Knighton and Presteigne are slightly between, and Builth Wells is pretty poor too.

“We are aware and we are hearing community concerns and people saying other centres have had this or that, and quite rightly so.”

The meeting was told of how gym membership in Llanfyllin has increased, while Freedom Leisure has plans to provide alternative membership plans including more classes for adults and exercise classes for children.

And they will also be looking at developing their social media offering.

Councillors said there have been complaints at the standard of the equipment in the gym, with some items being worn or damaged.

However Ms Sutton said a “change in culture” would now give the operational manager more opportunity to replace items.

Mr Owen added: “Things like that should be fixed. There’s no excuse for that.

“As an organisation we encourage feed back face-to-face, via email or over the phone.”

Cllr Pauline Boucher-Glynn said: “People do worry about our leisure centre not being as vibrant as it was and being run down,” while Cllr Jane Carrington added: “The community uses it and there are fears that if it gets too bad it will close.”

But Mr Owen said they were invested in the future of the leisure centre for the next 15 years, commenting: “You can never assure every centre will be around for ever, but there is a potential 15 years in this contract and our intention is to deliver that.”