Staff at a leisure centre fear their jobs are at risk by it closing for a year-long refurbishment.

Westcroft Leisure centre in Carshalton is due to close for 12 months for the £10m works from this summer.

But some 100 full time and part time staff only learned about the planned closure when the Sutton Guardian published details of the refurbishment last month.

Staff were not briefed about the closure – and it has now emerged current leisure provider Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) has lost out on the contract to run Sutton's leisure centres.

The changes have led to concerns among staff about the stability of their jobs.

One staff member said: “We are very much in the dark about what is happening.”

They said: “We should have been briefed about what is happening but we just don't know.”

The new contractor will soon be named by Sutton Council soon and is understood will start on April 1.

Councillor Graham Tope, the council's spokesperson on leisure, said it was normal practice for staff to be kept on when new contractors were brought in.

Coun Tope said as many of the clubs running at the centre would be transferred to other centres in the borough during the revamp, that the council want to finish in time for the end of the 2012 Olympics.

He spoke as he took the Sutton Guardian on a tour of the facilities to show why the centre needed upgrading.

Among the problems are a leaking roof, poor changing facilities,and deteriorating heating system and pool pump.

The revamp will see the leisure centre receive a brand new eight lane 25m swimming pool with spectator seating, enlarged teaching pool, eight badminton court sized Sports Hall, six massage and treatment rooms, two dance studios and a 170 workout gym, and house Carshalton library.

Coun Tope said without the improvements the aging facilities would cost millions of pounds in maintenance costs alone and the council risked losing revenue from having substandard facilities.

The council estimates the revamp, that still needs to be rubber-stamped at a March 7 full council meeting, will increase leisure centre use from 600,000 to 800,000 customers a year.