Mayor Campbell Barry will put forward an initiative to make swimming free for under-10s in families with a Community Services Card (CSC).

The Council will consider a paper next Friday that looks at a range of options to support equitable access for children to Lower Hutt’s six swimming pools.

Making swimming and council pool facilities more accessible has always been a priority for Mayor Barry.

"Cost should not be a barrier for children to learn water skills that will serve them for a lifetime," Mayor Barry says.

"With the opening of Naenae Pool later this year, now is the right time to ensure there is equitable access to what will be a first-class facility.

"Focusing on supervising adults who have a Community Services Card ensures our investment is targeted towards children where cost of access is more likely to be a barrier."

Where an adult(s) has a CSC, under 10s under their supervision will swim free, and the supervising adult will also enter at no charge.

The initiative will start with the opening of the new Naenae Pool later this year.

Mayor Barry says the project to design and build the new pool was informed by the community throughout, and one of the things the community wanted was for cost to be removed as a barrier to using the new pool.

© Scoop Media