PRICE hikes at The Activity Zone leisure centre in Malmesbury are driving people away.

After increasing some squash sessions from around £3 to more than £7 last year, the centre have now announced the cost of the family swimming session they run will more than double for some families.

The centre is run by PFP, a private company who Wiltshire Council sub-contract the management of some of their leisure centres to.

One regular at the pool, Andy Dawson, says the price of his trip to the pool with his three-year-old daughter will be going up from £3.50 to £7.75, which will stop him from attending the sessions.

“It seems such a ridiculous rise,” he said.

“It means we’ll stop going, apart from in school holidays, when Wiltshire Council subsidise free swimming for under-16s.

“The sessions were great for building confidence in young swimmers, as they reduce the depth to just 30cm.

“I think it’s important children are happy and safe in water when they live in a town surrounded by rivers.”

Andy says the reaction among other parents at the pre-school his daughter attends was much the same.

“It’s short-sighted,” continued Andy. “Numbers will go down once the price increase comes in.

“Pre-school parents have said they won’t be going anymore.”

In response, a statement released by the leisure centre said: “An assessment of our core prices was carried out to review the services we provide, which identified that there were variances in the cost for the same activity across west Wiltshire and north Wiltshire.

“In order to harmonise pricing across Wiltshire and create a fair and transparent pricing structure across all of our sites we will no longer be offering a discount on the family fun swimming sessions at The Activity Zone, however these sessions will still be available at the normal swim price.

“We do however offer free swimming for all children under-three, free swimming for all individuals on the learn to swim programme during public sessions and free swimming for all under-16’s during school holidays.”

The swimming price hike comes after prices to use the squash doubled for many users towards the end of last year.

Catherine Burke used to regularly play squash at The Activity Zone’s courts on a Sunday, however stopped doing so after her sessions more than doubled in price.

“They used to have an off-peak price, a peak price, and then a special offer price of only £3 on Sundays,” she said.

“Then they changed the prices, so it's all one flat rate of £8.70 for 40 minutes. We've not been back since.

“I've just been told by one of the staff members that it's going up further in April 1.

“It's a real shame because the courts are often empty early in the daytime but the price jump is just too much.”