Over-60s will be able to swim for free in council pools from next April in a bid to persuade a million more people to take up sport, the Government announced today.
By 2012 when London hosts the Olympic Games, the aim is for admission to pools to be free for all in the £140 million investment plan to increase active sports participation.
Sports Secretary Andy Burnham said: “Offering free swimming is just the kind of imaginative action required to make us a more active nation by 2012.
“We have chosen swimming because its appeal is universal. It is the perfect antidote to the couch potato culture.”
Mr Burnham said that £250 million of taxpayers’ money had been invested in swimming since 1997 - more than any other sport - because it was an activity that most people could enjoy.
Critics have questioned whether local authority pools will be able to cope with the added demand, but Mr Burnham said £80 million extra investment would go in next year and a further £60 million made available up to 2012 to improve facilities and ease the transition to free entry.
“My ambition is that by 2012 as many areas as possible open their public pools for free. This is the first step on that journey. What a fantastic Olympic legacy that would leave,” said the Sports Secretary.
Mr Burnham also announced a major reform of Sport England which will encourage the governing bodies of all the major sports as well as individual clubs to forge closer links with schools and voluntary organisations to ensure that young people carry on playing sport once they have left school.
“We want to encourage people of all levels and abilities to play sport for life, to reach their full potential and to remove any barriers” said Mr Burnham.
“By investing heavily in coaching and the club structure we can maximise the chances for English sporting success and improve the quality of the sport experience for all.
“National governing bodies will be key to successful delivery and will play a crucial role in helping us to get one million more people doing more sport by 2012,” he said.
Today’s announcements were labelled “a huge disappointment” by both the Tories and Liberal Democrats, who said they did not match up to the promises made in Britain’s Olympics bid.
10 Comments
This is a marvelous idea - well done to the government ( and you will not here me say that very often!!) Fair play this is great news…
Yes but what’s the betting the government will make the council open the pool for free but then not give them enough to cover the costs thus precipitating a rise in local council tax…ie a stealth tax - just like the free oap bus passes, or the FREE health care for the elderly in scotland or the FREE dentistry in wales or the extra schools buildings programmes or the FREE recycling collections we now all enjoy or the extra nurses which the government thinks are magically appearing free out of thin air when we as local council tax payers paying thousands of pounds per year each for these things that they think we need. Remember there is no such thing as a free lunch and watch the council tax go up while the government takes the credit for all these initiatives and we pick up the tab
I totally agree with DK, we the lcoal tax payer will end up paying for this initiative, this government is great at spending other peoples money.
dk is so cynical - does he think that just because the government has slumped in the polls they are planning on doing lots of eye catching give aways, popularist policies, tax cuts and the like??? So cynical….
Will we still have a swimming pool in 2012?
I agree with DK.
If they want to encourage people to spend money, try taxing us less, so we can actually spend the money we earn, rather than the government spending it for us!
I just don’t understand how so many schemes go ahead without the taxpayer having a say, shocking considering it’s our money!
this is a brilliant idea and i salute whomever came up with it - its easy to be negative but sometimes you just have to say fair play this is great news for all in the uk and is a real legacy which like libraries and the NHS will be here in hundreds of years free at the point of use for all
i think this is a really positive move
I don’t like swimming, can I have a reduction in my Council Tax?
Great news (even for those who dont like swimming) they all benefit from a healthy population e.g. less tax for the NHS