Swimming clubs in Kirklees claim they are being forced out of existence.

Kirklees Active Leisure, the trust which runs sports centres throughout the district, has massively increased pool fees and cut swim sessions.

It is also wanting to introduce new standards of teaching known as the Aquatics Pathway.

The Examiner has previously reported the threat to 150-year-old Huddersfield Swimming Club, which meets at the pool at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Now it has emerged Holme Valley Amateur Swimming Club, based at Holmfirth pool, has closed.

And Scissett Youth Amateur Swimming Club also faces a crisis meeting in the next month.

Swimming teacher Grant Holland, 43, who joined the Scissett club as a 13-year-old, said he was “appalled” at the new policy from Kirklees Active Leisure (KAL).

He said decades of history – and quality teaching – was being wiped out.

“KAL wants to increase our fees three-fold and restrict our pool hours,” he said.

“This is a general policy that is happening across all Kirklees pools.

“All the swimming clubs were summoned to a meeting and it was clear they were trying to push up prices and force everyone into Kirklees lessons so they could make more profit.

“It is a deliberate attempt to force clubs out of existence.”

Grant, also a fully-qualified lifeguard, said swim teachers were Amateur Swimming Association-qualified and the standard of teaching was not in question.

Grant, whose three daughters Jessica, 10, Anna, nine, and Lucy, six, attend the swimming club, said if the swimming clubs shut dozens of children would be lost to swimming.

“The legacy of the London Olympics was meant to be that volunteers got involved and built community sports clubs, but KAL just wants to wipe them out.”

The Scissett club, which has more than 200 members, currently meets at Scissett Baths on Mondays and Fridays between 7pm and 9.30pm.

Parents have been invited to an extraordinary general meeting on January 14 at Scissett WMC (7pm) when the club hopes to know what the new fees and hours will be.

The Holme Valley club, meanwhile, which had been going 35 years, shut last week. It had 100 members.

Secretary Yvonne Radcliffe said KAL planned to increase its pool hire fees by 25% from April.

She said KAL had four swimming teachers, but two of them, though Amateur Swimming Association-qualified – did not meet proposed KAL requirements.

Mrs Radcliffe said: “KAL wants the swimming clubs to be run as a business but amateur clubs cannot do that, we are all volunteers.

“Not everyone wants to learn to swim with KAL. We provide a choice. Now there’s no choice whatsoever.”

Holme Valley charged £30 a year membership and �2 per session. KAL charges £19.95 a month by direct debit.

“That’s a lot of money if you have two or three children,” said Mrs Radcliffe.

She said the swimming clubs were as much a youth club as a place to swim.

“It’s very, very sad,” she added.

Colne Valley Tory MP Jason McCartney has spoken to both Huddersfield and Holme Valley clubs and is now seeking a meeting with David Heddon, chairman of KAL trustees.

Mr McCartney described the closure of Holme Valley as “sad” and added: “It seems clear that KAL have financial motivations for making it very difficult for these clubs to continue, which is a great shame.

“I have asked for a meeting with Mr Heddon for him to explain to members of the Huddersfield Amateur Swimming Club the reasons behind KAL’s actions and to look at possible solutions.”

A spokesman for Kirklees Active Leisure said it had been working for 12 months on the new Aquatics Pathway.

This would have clear development routes for swimmers from beginner level through to the performance squads provided by the Kirklees Swim Performance Scheme and the Borough of Kirklees (BOK) swimming club.

They were working with clubs to help achieve this.

The spokesman added: “This drive to improve the delivery of swimming opportunities for the people of Kirklees also needs to be balanced with the major funding reductions from Kirklees Council to KAL, which demand that KAL makes sure that every hour of peak time pool space (ie Monday- Thursday evenings) is as financially productive as possible.

“The combination of the development of the new Aquatics Pathway, the subsequent detailed discussions with local swimming clubs and the financial pressures that KAL are facing have led to the current situation with these three particular swimming clubs but for very different reasons.”

Holme Valley took the decision to close because they did not have enough qualified volunteers and failed to meet the needs of their insurance.

Huddersfield had been working with KAL for some 18 months to try to progress the club towards new swim standards and refused an alternative time slot.

Scissett were not able to attend some of the Kirklees Aquatics Pathway meetings and therefore were not as aware of the proposed developments or the support on offer.

Other than these three clubs, the majority of the other Kirklees swimming clubs are now actively working with KAL and the other partners involved to begin the implementation of the Kirklees Aquatics Pathway to try to ensure that swimming and other aquatics disciplines can thrive over the coming years, despite the significant financial challenges that KAL faces.