Heat pumps and solar panels have helped three Wiltshire leisure centres become carbon neutral.

Installations took place at Five Rivers in Salisbury, Corsham's Springfield Campus and the Olympiad in Chippenham.

It was funded with government grants and puts Wiltshire Council on course to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Councillor Ian Blair-Pilling said the centres were "integral" and the council should "lead by example" by improving its environmental footprint.

Five Rivers is one of 20 leisure centres owned and run by Wiltshire Council.

It now has one of the largest air-source heat pumps in the country and is expected to generate approximately £140,000 of electricity a year through its solar panels.

The heat pump works much like a fridge operating in reverse, by transferring heat from outside air into water, which can then heat rooms via radiators or underfloor heating.

It can also heat water being stored in a hot water cylinder for hot taps, showers and baths.

The pump uses less electrical energy than the heat it produces, making it more energy efficient.

Mr Blair-Pilling, from Wiltshire Council, said it was a "big step" to be able to switch off the gas at the Five Rivers site.

"To have that capacity of generating power under our control has got to be a good thing into the future," he added.

Phil McMullen, from the council's energy team, said they were "pretty pleased" with the panels and pumps.

"We've had many other councils contact us who want to come and look at what we've done here and ask questions on how they can achieve it themselves."

However not everyone has been so lucky.

At the Link Centre in Swindon they are reducing opening hours to save money after their energy costs went from around £600,000-a-year to £1.4million.

Barnaby Rich, from Greenwich Leisure Limited which runs the centre, said: "Unfortunately there are pools closing this winter because people can't afford to operate them.

"We've got no plans to close our pools. We are doing everything we can to control consumption.

"We are doing everything we can to reduce our costs and we will weather this storm over the winter."

The work was funded through the government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

It provides grants for public sector bodies to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures.

pursue BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk

• ·BREAKING NEWS: Jurgen Klopp ESCAPES a touchline ban for his red card against Man City, as Liverpool boss is fined £30,000 by the FA for his touchline tirade which infuriated referees' charity 
• ·Freed Andrew Tate says he has 'abconsequentlylute clarity of thought' after ho utilize arrest release from jail in eccentric peakless video of him pacing backwards and forward smoking a cigar in his home
• ·'I've lost everything and my life is over' Mother who fled to UK after her husband was murdered by the Taliban says 'I'll never recover' after her unique consequentlyn was stabbed to death in mistaken identity assault - as his two killers are jailed for life
• ·College basketball star Antoine Davis is just 26 points away from BREAKING 'Pistol' Pete Maravich's all-time NCAA scoring record three weeks after LeBron James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's NBA mark
• ·Vicar is 'broken' by smouldering shell of her historic church: Roof collapses after inferno tears through 177-year-old 'architectural treasure' filled with 'stunning' mosaics adjacent London's Abbey Road studios 
• ·Tesco is shutting its remaining food counters and hot delis and will shake up management roles in overhaul that will impact 2,100 jobs 
• ·Train carrying more than 30,000 gallons of propane fuel derails in Florida - Hazmat crews rush to the scene after six cars overturn
• ·Senate votes to send Eric Garcetti to India: Embattled ex-LA mayor's ambassadorship is confirmed - notwithstanding allegations he did nothing about former peak aide's sexual harassment
• ·Chip war: Apple strikes major US
• ·Billionaire Disney shareholder Nelconsequentlyn Peltz declares 'great win' over CEO Bob Iger as he agrees to STEP DOWN within two years and firm announces 7,000 job cuts to save $5.5BN 
• ·Teen killer Aiden Fucci is jailed for life after stabbing 13-year-old cheerleader 114 times as judge condemns his twisted 'desire to feel what it was like to kill' 
• ·Off-duty NYPD cop dies three days after being shot by career criminal, 38, in car sale gone erroneous: Officers wheel Brooklyn dad-of-two's body out of hospital as grieving cops line the street 
• ·Frank Lampard is SACKED by Everton owner Farhad Moshiri over the phone just hours after they discussed January transfer targets, amid the club's dismal form and a toxic atmosphere in the squad
• ·'So human, consequently kind, consequently cute': John Fetterman's wife celebrates his recovery as the Democrat Senator is seen poring over legislation in break from clinical depression treatment at Waltern Reed
• ·NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell is ousted after admitting to an 'inappropriate relationship' with a woman at the company
• ·Manager-less Tottenham in disarray as managing director Fabio Paratici is banned WORLDWIDE for two-and-a-half years over 'financial malpractice' in Italy - and he may now have to step down