CONTROVERSIAL plans to transfer Southampton City Council's leisure services to an independent trust have been thrown out - three years and more than £350,000 after they were first proposed.

The proposals, which were due to enter their second feasibility phase, could have seen museums such as the city's Maritime Museum, art galleries and libraries, as well as tourism and outdoor recreation services, run by the trust.

Both Labour and Conservative councillors argued that too much money and time had already been spent on work to determine whether or not such a trust was feasible and called for plans to be dropped.

About £357,000 has been spent to date on researching the proposals for establishing an independent trust.

At a meeting of the full council, Councillor John Hannides, spokesman for the leisure portfolio of the Conservative group, said: "Based on the information we have we should not move forward. It is clear there are legal and financial concerns, the business sense is becoming more and more questionable and the costs involved are becoming a lot clearer."

Conservative Councillor Alec Samuels added: "Our patience is exhausted. This has been going on for a long time. There has been endless debate at great expense and it is proposed that there should now be further expense.

"The whole thing is overwhelmed with uncertainty. We think we should call a halt now."

Councillor Peter Wakeford, deputy leader of the council and the Liberal Democrat executive member for leisure, argued there was not yet enough information with which to make a decision about the trust.

"The work has not been concluded to the level at which we can make an informed decision," he said. "We should complete this work and then from that point we can make that informed decision."

But the ruling Liberal Democrats were defeated in a vote which has put an end to any further work on the proposed trust.

The news was welcomed by union chiefs who believed that the plans to turn the running of leisure services over to a trust would be bad for workers, arguing that a trust would be undemocratic and unaccountable with working conditions and staff pensions potentially suffering.

Unison branch secretary Mike Tucker told the Daily Echo: "We welcome the decision not to proceed with the work on establishing a leisure trust.

"We believe Southampton City Council should fund leisure services adequately from its budget.

"We are disappointed that they have wasted a lot of money on the leisure trust preparatory work."

Deputy branch secretary Barry Olson added: "This is a good day for the staff who will remain in the employment of the council.

"There were a lot of unanswered questions relating to employment status, job security and pension provision if they had been transferred to a trust."