FREE swimming for thousands of children and pensioners in Southampton and Gosport will be axed next month.

Other Hampshire councils are considering their options after the Government pulled funding for the two-year scheme for under 16s and over 60s claiming it had failed to deliver value for money.

Southampton City Council’s leisure boss councillor John Hannides, pictured, said the loss of funding was regrettable but understandable in “difficult economic times”.

“Unfortunately the free swimming scheme is not something the council can afford to maintain in the long term without government funding,” he said.

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However Cllr Hannides said the council would revert to providing free swimming for under threes.

Gosport council’s leisure boss councillor Mark Hook said the council had reluctantly put up notices warning its free swimming scheme would cease at the end of July, when funding ends. New Forest and Winchester councils said they were considering their options.

A spokesman for Eastleigh council said it hoped to continue free swimming for under 16s over the summer as part of its Parksport initiative, but continuing it longer term was in doubt.

Winchester’s communities boss councillor Lucille Thompson said: “We are disappointed by this announcement as free swimming is enjoyed by almost seven thousand people in Winchester and plays an important part in tackling issues such as childhood obesity.”

Julia Passingham, a Hampshire officer for the Amateur Swimming Association said she was disappointed with the announcement but hoped those introduced to swimming would keep it up.

She said over 60s had benefited from the exercise and made social groups, while children had been taught a valuable life skill.

Some councils had refused to sign up to the free swimming saying it would cost too much. Test Valley, Fareham and the Isle of Wight councils feared the funding was not enough to pay for the loss of revenue.

Ministers said in a statement a “value for money analysis” showed that the “cost of the scheme outweighs the health benefits”.

It cited research that found about 83 per cent of those aged 60 and over and 73 per cent of those aged 16 and under would have gone swimming anyway, even if they had to pay for it.

But Ben Bradshaw, Labour’s Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, said the decision to bring the programme to an end almost a year before schedule would “penalise” hard-up families.

Additional reporting by Matt Smith.