Kirklees leisure chiefs have been accused of making a public swimming baths ‘members only’.

Scissett Baths ran weekly junior triathlon sessions where children could ‘pay and play’ ad hoc.

But Kirklees Active Leisure (KAL), which runs public leisure services in the borough, has launched a new scheme where children must be KAL members to participate in the sessions.

The scheme is part of a wider move by KAL which requires children and adults to become members to take part in various sports and fitness sessions.

To continue to take part in the junior triathlon once a week, parents must pay £21.95 per month for ‘Junior Membership Silver’.

Now parents have starting boycotting the scheme claiming KAL has made public facilities for members only.

Grant Holland’s three daughters – Jess, Anna and Lucy – took part in the junior triathlon at Scisset Baths and Leisure Centre three times a week.

This cost the Upper Denby family £567 a year – but under the new scheme they must fork out £790 for three silver memberships.

KAL says the new scheme ensures the session ‘remains viable by guaranteeing a suitable level of attendance’.

Protesters against Kirklees Active Leisure's policies, gather at Scissett Baths.
Protesters against Kirklees Active Leisure's policies, gather at Scissett Baths.

But Grant says the scheme has already backfired.

He wrote to KAL: “Since the change in policy the attendance has been extremely poor with only four swimmers there tonight and only one swimmer there last week.

“The impact for KAL will actually be financially adverse as the majority of families will simply just find other sessions to attend without the constraint of a full membership, or block booking of ten sessions, both of which will result in paying for sessions we do not attend.”

Grant added: “They’re trying to force people into this KAL membership.”

Rebecca Minors, Assistant Community Sport Development Manager, said: “Unfortunately, including the junior triathlon sessions within the KAL Junior Membership has resulted in the decision to remove the pay and play option for some sessions, including the junior triathlon sessions.

“The reason for this is that in order to provide a session led by a qualified coach at a peak time there is a need to ensure that the session remains viable by guaranteeing a suitable level of attendance.

“This makes a pay and play approach to these sessions impossible to manage as the session is reliant on customers attending and paying week-by-week, with low attendances, for whatever reason (e.g. seasonality, inclement weather, other commitments, etc) meaning that the activity session becomes unviable.”