Bradford Council has admitted it cannot afford to subsidise free swimming for the summer when Government funding runs out at the end of this month.

Money for the scheme for under-16s and the over-60s was supposed to run until next year, but the coalition Government has scrapped the programme in a bid to save £5 million nationally.

Since it was introduced in 2008 the scheme has been extremely successful in Bradford with take-up in the district higher than anywhere else in West Yorkshire.

Overall swimming numbers went up 13 per cent on the previous year, which is what the programme was designed to do, with more than 350,000 free swims taken in the last year.

But there have been concerns that it would cost the Council more to run than the cash it would receive from the Government, as it would essentially be subsidising the cost of free swimming due to a loss in ticket sales.

Now the Council has confirmed that it would cost £100,000 to continue for the rest of the school holidays – something the authority has not budgeted for amid heavy cuts in its funding from the Government in other areas.

Councillor Ian Greenwood, leader of the Labour-run Council, said: “It’s regrettable that the Government’s decision to cut free swimming means that the programme will have to cease at the end of this month.

“To continue the scheme through the summer holidays would cost the Council almost £100,000 which it has not budgeted for at a time when it is already facing financial difficulty and the prospects of severe cuts.

“We can’t pretend that the cuts handed down by central Govern-ment aren’t going to affect people directly, and unfortunately this is one of the first to do so.”

It follows the news that neighbouring Calderdale Council has agreed to find the money itself to allow its free swimming scheme to continue throughout the summer holidays. Under-16s and the over-60s will still be able to enjoy a free swim for an extra month, with payments starting again at the beginning of September.