Babergh District Council has given the thumbs up to keeping its free swim scheme going until the end of August, to ensure that the scheme stays in place for the peak period of the school holidays.
This decision comes in spite of a recent central government announcement that they are to end the amount they contribute to the free swimming programme at the end of July.
Babergh had backed the scheme from April 2009 by using its own funds to make up the short fall between the costs of the scheme and the central government grant. At that time, the government had indicated that funds would be guaranteed until at least March 2011.
The central government announcement to end this funding prematurely was confirmed in a letter to Chief Executives of participating Council’s on July 6 following prior notice sent via email. This gave very short notice of the withdrawal of funds, right in the middle of the school’s summer holiday. The scheme was designed to benefit those over 60 and those 16 and under and so withdrawal in the summer holidays would be the time of year that one of the target groups would be most affected.
In spite of this short notice Babergh has moved swiftly to preserve the scheme for the summer holidays, until the end of August.
Commenting on the decision, Cllr Nick Ridley, Babergh’s Strategy Committee Chairman, said: “Babergh was very aware that the withdrawal of the scheme during the summer holidays would have hurt many people and so we have agreed to use our own funds to keep the scheme going until the end of August.
"This is within the amounts we have budgeted for to support the scheme and we are disappointed that funding will not now be available to keep the scheme going for as long as we had hoped.
“Despite the short notice given by government, we also wanted to ensure that users of our pools had as much notice as possible."
Working with South Suffolk Leisure, which run the pools in Babergh, the scheme had been a success with big increases in usage. Tracey Copping, Chief Executive of South Suffolk Leisure, added: “We are disappointed with the Government’s decision to withdraw free swimming as here in Babergh we have seen considerable growth in participation at both the Kingfisher Leisure Centre in Sudbury and at Hadleigh Swimming Pool.
"In order to support increased swimming, we will introduce a number of great value swimming passes, some of which could enable you to swim for as little as 44p per day."
The surprise announcement has meant that a number of publications, some of which have been distributed recently, now have out of date information about the scheme.
Paul Little, Babergh’s, Community Safety and Leisure Manager, comments: “There are a number of references to free swimming being available until March 2011 in publications that have or are in the process of being distributed. We are sorry for any confusion that this may have caused free swim subscribers.
“This is something that was unavoidable but none the less regrettable. The scheme will be halted on 31st August."
More information about the activities is available on http://www.babergh.gov.uk/ or call general enquiries on (01473) 826622. ENDS
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