Cornwall Council leader Linda Taylor has been accused of "an absolute sham" after failing to respond in a meeting to public questions about the possible closure of leisure centres.

A meeting of the council's Cabinet this morning saw 17 questions submitted from members of the public about the leisure centre closures.

Cornwall Council is currently considering whether it should allow the closure of leisure centres in Falmouth, Launceston, Wadebridge and Saltash as well as the hydrotherapy pool in St Austell after operator GLL said it could no longer run them without subsidy.

The council has said that it has no budget for leisure services and that as they are not a statutory service and, unless someone steps in to take them over, they will start to close next year.

Cllr Taylor allowed those asking questions of the Cabinet to read them out but then did not give any responses.

Instead she said that written responses would be sent to all those who submitted questions and they would also be published on the council's website.

The Conservative council leader said that under the constitution just 15 minutes was allowed for public questions and she wanted to make sure that all those who had submitted questions had the opportunity to ask them.

However the meeting was concluded in less than an hour and the leader could have allowed additional time for the public questions.

Cllr Taylor said that they had already been published, but it was highlighted by several of those asking questions that they could not be found anywhere.

A link was provided to the Local Democracy Reporting Service after it asked the council to indicate where the answers were.

One of those who asked a question, Wadebridge mayor Amanda Pennington, was highly critical of the council's approach.

She said: "Absolute sham. Holding Cornish taxpayers in contempt like this. Dodging legitimate questions. They should all be ashamed."

One of the questions was from Ms C Viqueira of Egloshayle about whether GLL would seek to close other centres if allowed to close those under threat.

In response the council said: "The council is keen to keep Leisure Centres open in Cornwall and is working hard with GLL to ensure centres are viable. The best way to guarantee the future of the leisure centres is to use them, as they are entirely funded from the membership and fees people pay to use the facilities.

"We anticipate that some of the people who currently use the affected centres may use alternative public leisure centres, which we hope would improve their sustainability."

Ms E Pat from Wadebridge asked about the impact the closures could have on health and wellbeing of people in Cornwall.

The council responded: "Whilst there is no statutory duty on the Council to provide or facilitate leisure centres, we are acutely aware that any leisure centre closures could have major impacts for the individuals, schools and community groups who rely upon them. This is why we are working closely with local councils and community groups where they wish to explore alternative and financially viable solutions.

"The draft strategy proposes a sustainable leisure provision delivery model to ensure an offer is accessible to all residents. This network includes our public leisure centres, alongside the countless free outdoor resources that Cornwall has to offer such as our parks, beaches and cycle trails."

A final decision on the future of the leisure centres is set to be made by the Cabinet when it meets in December.