Free swimming plan scrapped

Thousands of schoolchildren across the Wyre Forest district are to miss out on free swimming sessions because grant aid will not cover the cost, councillors have revealed.

They had applied for Government grants to pay for the swimming sessions for the over-60s and under-16s.

But only pensioners will now benefit from the scheme.

As many as 26,000 pensioners and 16,000 young people were expected to benefit from the sessions planned from next year until March 2011.

Members of the Wyre Forest District Council's cabinet were last night told that only the scheme for pensioners would go ahead.

DC Leisure, which manages Wyre Forest Leisure Centre in Kidderminster and Stourport Sports Centre, had agreed to run the schemes and to meet any shortfall in grant to ensure no costs fell on the local authority.

But because the council was only offered £44,674 it would have left DC Leisure facing a potential deficit of more than £100,000 per year for the two years the scheme was planned to run.

Council leader councillor John Campion said: "It is easy for the Government to role out such schemes but when these arrive here they are not fully funded."