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Council snubs free swim cash
CHILDREN and pensioners in South Yorkshire will be able to enjoy free swimming in council-owned pools from April next year – except in Sheffield.
Back in June the Government announced that 140m was being made available to local councils across the country to fund a new free swimming initiative, and councils had to confirm by September 15 if they wished to take up the offer.
It has now been revealed that out of 354 local authorities in the country, 300 councils are set to offer free swimming for over 60s and 296 councils will be offering free swimming for under 16s.
Councils in Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley have signed up to both schemes and said they will take their share of the cash – although Sheffield has not.
Councillor Jan Wilson, leader of the Labour group on Sheffield Council, said the decision by Sheffield Council to opt out of the scheme was "absolutely outrageous".
She said: "I think people will be furious to learn that the Lib Dems have turned down the offer of funding from the Government to provide free swimming for young people and over 60s.
"Nearly 85 per cent of councils in England will be opening up their pools for free to over 60s and under 16s in just six months time, and Sheffielders will be missing out. It's absolutely outrageous.
"Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster have all signed up for the free swimming, so over 60s and under 16s in Sheffield will be the only ones in South Yorkshire who will not be able to access free swimming.
"The Lib Dems are trying to hide behind the excuse that the Government funding isn't enough but if that's the case, how come 85 per cent of other councils have been able to make the figures stack up?
"I'm so disappointed by this decision and I think Sheffielders will be too. The Lib Dems have got a lot to answer for."
The leading Lib Dem group on Sheffield Council said the Government's free swimming pledge was "a sham" and the funding offered fell far short of the money that would be required to implement the scheme.
They said that the Government had offered about 370,000 of the total 1.1m that Sheffield's swimming pools would need to find in lost revenue, which could leave local taxpayers facing a 727,000 bill – an extra 0.5 per cent in council tax.
Sheffield Council has now written to the Government, asking it to reconsider the amount of funding being offered to the city.
Councillor Sylvia Dunkley, Liberal Democrat member for culture and leisure, said: "At the time I welcomed the announcement that the Government would fund free swimming for under 16s and over 60s.
"However now we have had time to look at the detail we can see that the initiative is simply another Labour sham.
"We have found the amount of funding the Government is offering Sheffield falls way short of the sum that would be needed.
"If we accepted the Government's offer it could still cost the council nearly three-quarters of a million pounds.
"At a time when local people are feeling the pinch we cannot justify the increase in council tax that would be needed to pay for this.
"We have written to the Government to ask them to honour their commitment and provide Sheffield with the full amount of funding, if they do then we would be delighted to introduce the free swimming initiative.
"In the meantime we are looking at what else we can do to make swimming more attractive to local people."
jeni.harvey@ypn.co.uk
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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