I REFER to the recent articles and letters about the free' swimming concession for the over-60s.

The management committee all supported the concept of free swimming and in our decision, directed a letter to the Labour government asking for sufficient sustainable funding.

We rejected the miserly offer of two years' funding and even at that the estimate cost exceeds the allocated funding.

There is no such thing as free'. It is wrong to subject tax payers to whim.

Worse, the scheme is only for council owned pools, Osprey Leisure Centre, recently taken over by volunteers and still financially fragile, would not be eligible for funding.

It would lose valuable revenue as the swimmers deserted to take advantage of free' swimming in the Weymouth pool.

A possible scenario: in two years, no free swimming, funding withdrawn (council tax unable to pick up the tab) and the Osprey Centre shut through lack of use.

This I believe was the compelling reason for rejecting the scheme.

As community safety and health brief holder, I voted against, as did the majority of Conservative-led management committee, rejecting yet another ill-conceived Labour Government initiative, that was liable, in the future to impact adversely on council tax.

It is easy to be drawn to this type of scheme like a moth to a lamp and the result is not much different.

Until local government is properly funded and is allowed to direct funds to the areas assessed locally, these schemes will be no more than central government window dressing.

Coun Tim Munro, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.