More families could benefit from free swimming if local councils take up a new opportunity to join the government’s free swimming initiative.<\/p>\n
Since its launch in April this year, more than four million visits have been made to pools by senior citizens and children.<\/p>\n
Councils that are only offering free swimming for people over sixty are also being given a renewed chance to extend the programme to the under sixteens.<\/p>\n
Councils that now wish to join the scheme now must offer free swimming for both age groups.<\/p>\n
Five Government departments are funding the two-year scheme \u2013 the Departments of Health, Children, Schools and Families, Culture, Media and Sport, Work and Pensions and Communities and Local Government.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Ben Bradshaw said:\u00a0 “The Government\u2019s free swimming initiative has been a huge success and most councils are working with us to make free access to local pools a reality, with many injecting money themselves. But a minority are not offering it all, or only for senior citizens. We want all of them to have a chance now – after seeing how successful it has been – to jump in and share the full benefits with their local communities.”<\/p>\n
The move is aimed at expanding free swimming across the country, particularly the 69 councils restricting free swims to over 60s and the 67 councils not in the scheme at all.<\/p>\n
Any councils offering free swimming for both age groups will be able to apply for a share of \u00a325m to build new pools or renovate existing ones.<\/p>\n
Local authorities have until the 8th of September to indicate if they are interested in joining the scheme or extending it to young people.<\/p>\n
Councils that are currently providing free swimming for both age groups were allocated money from a \u00a310 million fund to improve their local facilities in 2008\/9.<\/p>\n
Bristol City Council offer free swimming to both age groups. North Somerset Council currently restrict free swimming to the over 60s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More families could benefit from free swimming if local councils take up a new opportunity to join the government’s free<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bristol-news"],"yoast_head":"\n