Staffordshire Moorlands District Council

YOUNGSTERS aged under 16 will be making a splash for free during February half term.

North Staffordshire NHS is to meet the cost of free swimming at Biddulph, Cheadle and Leek leisure centres from Saturday (February 14) to Sunday, February 22 inclusive.

The offer will then be repeated every weekend until Wednesday, April 1 when a longer running, free swim programme funded by the Government will kick in for the under 16s and over 60s.

To qualify for the offer running to April, children should register at any one of the three Staffordshire Moorlands leisure centres run by Parkwood Leisure for the District Council. Once registered, the young person will be given a concessionary pass.

In the interests of safety, children under eight must be accompanied by an adult to comply with the council's Child Admission Policy.

North Staffordshire NHS is also funding the cost of admission to accompanying adults - as long as the adult concerned meets the criteria to receive the benefits of the Leisure Card. Qualifying adults should report to the leisure centre with proof of their entitlement to benefits, and should be prepared to pay £2.80 for their Leisure Key.  To be eligible for the Leisure Key card, you should be in receipt of means-tested benefit including Income Support, Working Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and Income Based Job Seeker's Allowance.  People with registered disabilities or Disability Living Allowance, Long Term Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance are eligible as well as pensioners and full-time students in sixth form, further or higher education.

The council is sending registration forms to all Staffordshire Moorlands schools, and is to display posters in the leisure centres and its one-stop shops.

From April, under 16s and over 60s will be entitled to free swimming under a two-year initiative funded by the council and Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Said Cllr Mark Deaville: portfolio holder for leisure, sport and culture: "Free swimming is a great form of exercise, and supports our priority outcome of improved health. This is why we're fully committed to promoting the free swimming to be funded by the Government for the under 16s and over 60s from the start of April.

"In the meantime, we're most grateful to North Staffordshire NHS for the incredibly generous interim offer of free swimming for the under 16s during half term and at weekends before April", he paid tribute.

Children under five have been entitled to free swimming for several years.

Details of public swimming times are available in the Centre Directory available at each of the three leisure centres.