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One of the few councils in Suffolk to fully fund free swimming at its pools has pledged to retain the scheme – in spite of a higher-than-expected take-up and the fact it is facing a massive budget shortfall.
Earlier this year Babergh District Council agreed to fully fund its share of the Government’s Free Swim programme for both the under 17s and over 60s, across all of its public swim sessions at both the Kingfisher Leisure Centre and Hadleigh Swimming Pool.
Yet a far higher take-up than was ever anticipated has meant that five months into the scheme annual participation targets have been exceeded and the project is significantly overspent.
According to Paul Little, Babergh’s Community Safety & Leisure Manager, “this is a classic case of the Council being a victim of its own success, especially as unlike other neighbouring councils Babergh did not apply any restrictions as to when ‘free swims’ could be taken”.
“We knew that funding such a service would be popular. Just how popular the scheme has become has taken everyone by surprise. In fact around 14,000 residents have signed up to the programme”.
“The extra and unbudgeted costs associated with such a massive take-up, which include the need to employ extra lifeguards in order to comply with health and safety requirements along with increased water, utility and chemical costs, are quite simply unaffordable”
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With Babergh facing a £1.4m budget gap next year, the Council felt it could not afford to fund the expected yearly overspend of up to £60,000.
However, Babergh remains committed to the principles of offering free swimming to those who qualify. As a result, Babergh and South Suffolk Leisure - who manage both facilities on behalf of the Council - have emailed as many free swim subscribers as possible informing them that free swimming will still be on offer, albeit during specific times of the day.
From the start of November, free swimming will remain available during the sessions outlined in the timetables for both sites. In essence, there will still be 33 free swim hours per week during term time and 35 hours outside of term time at the Kingfisher Leisure Centre and 39 hours during both at Hadleigh Swimming Pool.
“The ‘Free Swim’ programme supports our priority to promote healthy living and we are pleased to have been able to have saved it for the enjoyment of all who qualify” added Paul Little.
Tracey Copping, Chief Executive for South Suffolk Leisure said, “We have been overwhelmed by the success of the free swimming programme. A far higher take-up than was ever anticipated has meant that a year’s worth of free swims have taken place in the first five months alone, resulting in the project being significantly overspent. We haven’t seen participation levels like this in over 20 years”.
“The health and safety of our swimmers is our main focus along with ensuring that customer service and cleaning standards are met. To enable us to operate to these levels costs have escalated beyond control. These include water consumption, chemicals, cleaning and staffing.
“We are working closely with Babergh to ensure that free swimming continues and while we are not able to do this for every session we hope that our users will continue to enjoy swimming on our new timetable”.
Timetables are available from both sites or from the SSL website at www.ssleisure.co.uk.
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