Members of the union Unison staged a demonstration outside Oxford Town Hall for an hour yesterday as part of their "Keep our Leisure Centres Public" campaign.

The protest was ahead of a key meeting of the city council's leisure services committee, which was examining the way forward for the council's loss-making leisure facilities. A report to the committee showed a deficit of 660,904 for this financial year.

Campaigners also collected signatures for a petition calling for council-owned facilities including Oxford Ice Rink, Ferry Sports Centre and the Hinksey Pools not be privatised. More than 3,000 signatures were later handed to the committee

Councillors agreed to ask officers to investigate setting up a non-profit-making organisation or trust to operate selected leisure centres. They also asked officers to look into other alternatives, such as co-operatives and partnerships.

After the meeting, committee chairman Jim Campbell said: "Oxford City Council's leisure centres are in desperate need of investment. Without a major injection of cash, they will fall into disrepair." "I hope that an alternative way of managing the centres such as a trust fund or co-operative could offer a way of ensuring that leisure facilities in the city are preserved for future generations."

Councillors also looked at a package of short term cuts to save money, but the majority of these were unacceptable to the committee.

A decision on whether to raise the price of burials and reserving grave plots by more than 50 per cent was deferred by the committee for further consultation.

A report to the committee had suggested raising the charges for reserving a 9ft by 5ft grave site from 135 to 200, raising the price of buying land to bury cremated ashes from 115 to 135, and upping the cost of reserving the cost of buying rights for an adult to 75 years from 260 to 270.

The higher charges, which had been greeted with outrage by pensioners' champions including Age Concern, would have raised an extra 6,000 for the council each year.

A new report will be put before the committee later this year after further consultations with groups including Age Concern have taken place.