FURIOUS swimmers have slammed Five Rivers Leisure Centre after the cost of taking a child swimming rocketed by 57 per cent overnight.

It now costs £4.15 for a child to swim at the Wiltshire Council run pool - last week it was £2.65 and until last October it was free. Adult swimming sessions have shot up by 43 per cent from £4 to £5.70.

It could work out cheaper for Salisbury swimmers to drive their families to pools in Andover, where swimming is £3.40 for adults and £2.30 for children, or Ringwood where adults pay £3.65 and under eights swim for free.

One way for Salisbury residents to get cheaper swimming sessions is to pay £11 a year for Wiltshire Council’s new leisure card.

However, the council admits it has failed to market the scheme properly and hundreds of people paid the new prices to use the pool this week, unaware they could be saving money and without being informed of the option by centre staff.

In its literature, the council says the leisure card saves about 15 per cent on leisure centre charges, so many people haven’t signed up, thinking it isn’t worth their while.

In reality, the leisure card means users, including children, pay £1.50 less each time they swim - a saving closer toa quarter of the full price.

But each member of a family, adults or children over the age of three, must have their own card.

Prices of court hire, gym use and other sports have also soared and people will need to buy a leisure card to bring the cost down to around its previous level.

“It’s outrageous,” said keen swimmer Sophie Dalboozi, who was stunned at the cost of taking her six-year-old daughter Mya swimming on Friday.

“They were just taking the money - I didn’t know I’d have to get one of these leisure cards.

“I don’t know how they can justify charging £11 for one anyway. The pool is very poor, often the flume is shut because there’s not enough staff.

“They are supposed to be encouraging children to live active lifestyles but people won’t be able to afford to go at those prices.

“There’s not much else for children to do in Salisbury that is affordable. If the council can’t offer a good, value for money service they should sell it off to a private company that knows what it’s doing.”

Fellow swimmer Nikki Macey said: “I was astonished to find out the price for a child has nearly doubled. How on earth can Wiltshire Council justify so much of an increase, especially as the pool is nothing special? Other towns provide great leisure complexes with ice skating, bowling, soft play areas, swimming pools with decent flumes and the entrance fee still manages to be cheaper than our pool.”

Robin Townsend, head of leisure services at Wiltshire Council, said: “We would like to apologise for any confusion caused by the introduction of our new leisure card.

“The cards offer large discounts on services at our leisure centres in the south and east of the county, and I would encourage people to contact their local centre to find out more.”

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