Swimmers face massive rise in pool admission charges

A massive hike in charges for York's swimming pools is on the way.

City of York Councillors will tonight discuss proposals to raise admission prices by up to 45 per cent.

The increases are a knock-on consequence of a recent £120,000 cutback in the council subsidy to TLM, which manages the pools under a contract.

If the increases are agreed, York Cardholders will pay £2.40 instead of the current £1.92. And people from outside York will have to fork out £2.85, rather than £2.05.

Concessionary prices for people such as children, pensioners, the unemployed and students, will also go up from £1.05 to £1.60 for cardholders, and £1.40 to £2.05 for non-York residents.

A report to the Commercial Services Committee says the council has tried to keep charges below market prices for a number of years, but this is no longer possible because of budget pressures.

It says the proposed increases place York's pools in the middle of the price range for comparable venues at Tadcaster, Wetherby, Harrogate and Selby.

But campaigners fighting to save Barbican and Yearsley baths from closure were shocked and dismayed today by the increases, which they said would deter some people from swimming.

Michael Peters, chairman of the Save the Barbican campaign, said: "I am shocked that such a large increase is being planned." He had felt a modest increase would have been justifiable, but big increases were being proposed without any improvement in the facilities.

Fiona Evans, co-ordinator of the campaign to save Yearsley Baths, feared the increases would deter some swimmers, particularly the most vulnerable people on low incomes.

see NEWS 'Gemma puts her plea for Barbican in verse'

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