Birmingham residents given free gym and pool use
Project manager Dave Ellis told a meeting of Edgbaston Constituency Committee that it was now going to be rolled out city-wide on a trial 18 month basis.
The majority of the £9.3 million cost of the scheme has funding from central Government, with most of that being spent on maintenance and improving equipment in leisure centres which would suffer more wear and tear as a result of the increased usage.
Residents will have to apply for a special leisure card where their eligibility will be checked before being issued.
Mr Ellis said while they expected a lot of the uptake to come from people already using private gyms, their aim was to get new users into leisure centres.
And he said the rest of the UK would be watching with interest as Birmingham was one of the first cities to try it out.
Card holders will be able to swim for free during any casual public session, and go to any class or gym session at the council’s Pulse Point facilities up until 5pm weekdays and after 1pm weekends. Mr Ellis said they would get round the problem of long queues by making it off peak only and running a coloured wristband system in the swimming pool to ensure everyone had their fair amount of time.
The scheme was broadly welcomed by councillors, but they expressed doubt about what would happen when the Government funding ran out.
Coun Len Clark (Con, Quinton) said: “There must be a worry that when the 18 month trial ends the Government won’t have the money to keep it going and it will fall to us to fund it.”
But Mr Ellis said: “The challenge is to get people active so even if the free trial does come to an end people will still want to exercise.”
