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Basildon Council turns down free swim cash for elderly

8:00am Friday 28th November 2008 in


PENSIONERS in Basildon will not get free swimming sessions after the council opted out of a scheme to scrap charges.

Basildon Council has come under fire for not taking part in a Government-backed initiative offering the over-sixties free entry to council-run pools.

Every council was offered a share of a £15million fund to provide free swims for the elderly.

However, Tory council leader Malcolm Buckley was not keen and branded the scheme an “early election gimmick”.

He said: “We’ve been quite open about this all along.

“It’s not that we don’t want to give free swimming, it’s the money for this will last for about two years and then be stopped.

“Then we’ll have to either scrap the service, which we will be widely criticised for, or find the funding ourselves, and that would mean cutting services elsewhere.”

Basildon has three public pools at Gloucester Park, Rectory Park Drive, Pitsea, and Market Avenue, Wickford.

Mr Buckley added: “This is just like the free bus pass scheme. The Government said it would fully fund it, but it failed to do so and the responsibility has fallen to councils to find the cash.”

Swatantra Nandanwar, Labour Vange councillor, was dismayed by the decision.

He said: ‘This would have been an ideal opportunity to get more of our elderly people into swimming, and swimming is the best form of exercise for all ages.”

Comments(9)

springthing says...
10:23am Fri 28 Nov 08

Free for two years then stopped, So what? if it gives oap's something for free for a couple of years then why not, Typical tory!

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Techno says...
10:49am Fri 28 Nov 08

Yet again the council failing to do what it's paid for. Even when it's free they still dont want to serve the public. Time to hang em and hang em high! Basildon Council is run by Conservatives who are even more out of touch with reality than Labour ever were! Remember that on voting day.

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TheWizzard says...
11:13am Fri 28 Nov 08

They must need more comfy chairs in the office they want to demolish

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Benfleet Boot Boy says...
3:21pm Fri 28 Nov 08

Would have been a nice gesture to let the old folk swim for free but I suspect those old guys and gals that are inclined already go swimming and the others might go once or twice if it was free but would soon stop when the dark, cold and wet days set in.

Unfortunately the climate in this country does not encourage the majority of people to swim.

I suspect most of you go swimming when we're in Spain or the Caribbean on our yearly holidays and I also suspect most of you say "I'll have to do more of this when I get home"

Now be honest: not many of you bother, eh?

So the decision is of no real significance

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Vernon Carter says...
3:46pm Fri 28 Nov 08

Buckley you are a complete f**kwit. Why turn it down on the grounds that its only for two years? Would you turn down free mortgage payments if it was only for two years? Or free holidays etc.
What is your real agenda?Are you worried that more people will start using the local pools and make it more difficult for you to close them down? Have you already offered the contract to replace them with private amenities, to your freemason chums?

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Techno says...
4:43pm Fri 28 Nov 08

The real agenda is they dont want to work for their wages any more. The funding might be free but it would mean the council had to work to run the scheme. When was the last time you saw a conservative council do any work?

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Discouraged says...
6:48pm Fri 28 Nov 08

If is not logical to spend money giving free swimming to pensioners because after 2 years it will cost the council, then why spend £2 1/4 million on the Bas cenre which is going to be demolished. I just don't get it.

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shallotman says...
7:46pm Fri 28 Nov 08

Surely if the Council made it plain to pensioners, that the freebie would only be until the money ran OUT !!

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TheWizzard says...
4:29pm Sun 30 Nov 08

Vernon Carter wrote:
Buckley you are a complete f**kwit. Why turn it down on the grounds that its only for two years? Would you turn down free mortgage payments if it was only for two years? Or free holidays etc.
What is your real agenda?Are you worried that more people will start using the local pools and make it more difficult for you to close them down? Have you already offered the contract to replace them with private amenities, to your freemason chums?
Perhaps the real agenda is that ALL the leisure centres are to be sold off. Bromfords was sold some time ago, they are trying to sell Markhams Chase. Eversley Boys FC have now been moved to Barleylands. ( I wonder why?) Perhaps a developer has their eyes on it?

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