FURTHER consultation is to be carried out on a scheme to form a community trust to run Richmondshire's leisure facilities.

Posters went up at Richmond's swimming pool, the tourist information centre and sporting venues over the weekend announcing the district council would be inviting comments on its proposals on Tuesday evening.

However, only eight people attended, and most of them believed the poor turnout was down to a lack of publicity.

They all said the district council should arrange another consultation meeting to attract as many people as possible before any decisions were made.

Yesterday, it was confirmed another public meeting will be arranged to give residents a chance to debate the formation of the trust.

The council is hoping it can establish a trust board before June 1, with responsibility for the running and maintenance of Richmond Pool and joint-use facilities at Richmond School, after the council relinquishes control of them.

Leisure chief Geoff Thompson told the meeting he would not expect to see much change in the first three years because the trust would need to find its feet.

District councillor and Richmond Mayor Councillor Stuart Parsons told Tuesday night's meeting he was concerned there was no guarantee the council would continue to support the trust after 2007, and that no figures were being produced to back up the council's case for change.

He said: "If this is such a good idea, then we should be shouting it from the rooftops to get as many people on board as possible.

"Instead, no one seems to be able to explain it properly and, for me, there are more questions than answers at the moment."

Yesterday, council spokes-man Ian Garth said more consultation was being planned.

He said: "We hope the next meeting will be held in Leyburn to give residents of Wensleydale their opportunity to have a say, although a date and time have yet to be agreed. By then, we also aim to have financial information available so we can deal with the issue of costs in more detail."