COUNCILLORS have been called to two special meetings to vote on the future of an under-used leisure centre, which is costing council taxpayers nearly £500,000 a year.

Drastic cuts are expected at the Spectrum Leisure Complex, Willington, where staff have already been warned their jobs are under threat.

The crucial decision will probably be taken at a special meeting of Wear Valley District Council's policy and finance and leisure committees on Thursday.

It will be up to the whole council to ratify that decision at a meeting to be held later that day.

The authority's ruling Labour group has discussed the Spectrum's future and is understood to have accepted the cuts are necessary.

The cuts would mean closing the centre's loss-making ski slope and the former Brancepeth Miners' Welfare Hall, known as Arrivals One.

There would be jobs for only seven of the centre's 25 staff. Some of the rest would be offered work in other departments.

The threat to the Spectrum Leisure Centre comes weeks after the council axed 22 elderly people's wardens and cut ten posts from its housing department by merging management and direct works teams.

Council leader Councillor Olive Brown said yesterday: "We have had to take some unpalatable decisions. We will try our best to make these decisions as painless as we possibly can.

"As one of the founder trustees it hurts me to consider this happening to the Spectrum.

"But my head has to rule my heart because we cannot afford to go on. The ski slope alone is losing £50,000 a year and it is too much for us to bear."

The cuts are part of the council's drive to save £700,000 from its overall budget over the next two years.

At the same time, it is bidding for funding for other leisure services both at its own centres and in the community.

Liberal democrat leader Councillor Chris Foote Wood said the Spectrum should never have been built in Willington.

He said: "The chickens are coming home to roost. It was an unwise decision which has cost the council a net loss of £7m over the years.