SIR,

As members of the community who again gave up an evening to attend the 'consultation' meeting, we wonder who is really listening to our concerns regarding the proposed removal of free swimming for the over 60s for the three months of the school holidays.

Monmouthshire County Council officers Ian Saunders and Richard Simpkins made no mention of the impact this loss of access to free swimming would have on the health or mobility of the elderly when they wrote this extract on an Equality Challenge Form:

"Positive Impact – will free up more time for children's activities. Potential negative impact – those people who had free swimming during school holiday periods may no longer swim during those times, could increase social isolation among our 60+ citizens."

These proposals do not make economic sense, and with us swimming between 6.30am and 7.15am, it is unlikely to free up more time for children to swim.

Better health, life experience and mobility for older people is being discounted in an attempt to make a tiny and we believe unrealistic improvement to the budget expenditure, and in the process it is discriminating against the elderly and the elderly disabled.

The cost of the free swim to the council is negligible since the pool is open anyway, and the extra amount proposed that would have to be paid by each pensioner who swam regularly would be more than a five per cent increase in Council Tax that one councillor suggested would be affordable for Monmouthshire households.

On behalf of Monmouth Swimmers

Richard Currie, Fay McGrath, Jo Binmore, Jenny Robbins, Liz Hicks, Helen Levy, Jan Currie