A PILOT scheme for free swimming for under 16s during the summer holidays has been such a success it may soon be extended to other areas.

During the summer, about 500 per cent more people used the pool at Eston Sports Centre, where free swimming was introduced, thanks to funding from Middlesbrough Primary Care Trust.

Tees Valley Leisure has now put forward a £117,000 bid to the Redcar and Cleveland Social Inclusion and Neighbourhood Renewal Fund to provide free swimming for under 16s during all school holidays from next Easter in Guisborough, Loftus and Saltburn for two years.

Glyn Amos, Tees Valley Leisure business development director, said: "One of the local police officers told me that he believed, that of all the money that came from the neighbourhood renewal fund, this was the best spent because it gives kids focus and something to do and means they cause less trouble.

"It struck me that we should be doing this in other areas of Redcar and Cleveland, which is why I have applied to the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund."

He said that all children in the Redcar and Cleveland area will receive a leaflet, informing them they are entitled to free swimming, seven to ten days before the start of the holiday.