Half Price Activities to be Axed
Tuesday, 8th July 2003.
A BOROUGH council is set to axe half-priced activities during school holidays at its Leisure Centres.
Members of St Edmundsbury Borough Council's Cabinet have agreed to end the half-priced activities for children, senior citizens and families in Haverhill and Bury St Edmunds before the start of the summer holidays.
This will save £30,000 a year and the scheme will be replaced by more targeted concessions and outreach schemes.
A report to the cabinet said a blanket subsidy was not necessarily the best way to reach disadvantaged groups and encourage them to take part in sport.
The subsidy took no account of people's ability to pay and was confined to people who actually go to Leisure Centres.
The report said half-priced sessions are popular with children and offer them something to do, diverting them from anti-social behaviour.
"So it may be possible to reach this group more effectively by outreach work of the type the council and its partners are undertaking through various crime and disorder initiatives, and the officers intend to explore ways of doing this," the report said.
So far, £10,708 of this year's allocation has been spent on Easter and half-term holiday subsidies and the remainder of the money will be spent on new initiatives.
Members of St Edmundsbury Borough Council's Cabinet have agreed to end the half-priced activities for children, senior citizens and families in Haverhill and Bury St Edmunds before the start of the summer holidays.
This will save £30,000 a year and the scheme will be replaced by more targeted concessions and outreach schemes.
A report to the cabinet said a blanket subsidy was not necessarily the best way to reach disadvantaged groups and encourage them to take part in sport.
The subsidy took no account of people's ability to pay and was confined to people who actually go to Leisure Centres.
The report said half-priced sessions are popular with children and offer them something to do, diverting them from anti-social behaviour.
"So it may be possible to reach this group more effectively by outreach work of the type the council and its partners are undertaking through various crime and disorder initiatives, and the officers intend to explore ways of doing this," the report said.
So far, £10,708 of this year's allocation has been spent on Easter and half-term holiday subsidies and the remainder of the money will be spent on new initiatives.
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