A CALL has been made for a review over the condition of a major Basingstoke leisure facility to be made public.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has commissioned a survey of Planet Ice, at the Leisure Park, which is due to be presented at a Communities, Environment and Partnerships meeting next month.

At the full council meeting on Thursday, 16 May, Karl Blackmore-Squires, on behalf of the Ice Rink Users Forum, called for the final report to be presented in the open-to-the-public section of the meeting.

Mr Blackmore-Squires said: "At no point prior to the commissioning of the report was this group (the forum) or any of the rink's users consulted as to what was important to them.

"It is with this in mind... that the report is presented in an open and transparent way, so that the users of the facility can be reassured that all of their concerns have been addressed."

Councillor John Izett, cabinet member for regeneration and property, told Mr Blackmore-Squires that given the nature of the survey, it was 'not appropriate' for the council to carry out consultation beforehand.

He added that the consent of both Planet Ice and the long-term leaseholder of the site SSL would be needed for the report to be heard in public.

Cllr Izett added: "The council has asked for the consent for the report to be made in the public domain. It would be my hope and expectation that this would be the case.

"We have got nothing to hide on this. We want as full a picture as possible about the condition of the ice rink."

The short-to-medium term future of the ice rink is unclear due to the condition of the facility, while the users forum is also calling for a temporary rink to fill the gap between the current venue closing and a new rink being built as part of the £300m Leisure Park redevelopment.

Meanwhile, a motion from Labour group leader Cllr Paul Harvey for the council to 'unequivocally commit' to the provision of both a new permanent and a temporary rink did not even reach the debate stage of the meeting.

The motion was not debated after legal advice which stated the scale of financial contribution the council could incur from such a commitment could reach £16m, which could be classed as unlawful state aid to private enterprise.