The decision to axe cheap season tickets at public leisure centres has been defended by a senior councillor.

Braintree Council is conducting a price review at its centres across the district, as many prices vary widely depending on the location.

Among the tickets to go are season tickets that give early morning access to some leisure centres for as little as a quarter of the price of commercial gym membership.

But the council said the new policy would iron out pricing inconsistencies between the centres and reduce prices across the district for low income groups that never enjoyed discounts before.

A new Leisure Card - costing £3 - gives leisure centre discounts of between 30 and 70 per cent to pensioners, people on benefits and low incomes, disabled people and their carers, students and children aged 4-16.

Managers hope it will get rid of price discrepancies, such as where the unemployed get discounts at Witham's Bramston Sports Centre and disabled people at centres in Braintree, but not the other way round.

Richard Tincknell, Braintree Council's executive member for leisure and culture, said: "Basically we've got six centres across the district and one of the things we've never had is a proper corporate pricing policy.

"This is a nettle that would have to have been grasped sooner or later - some of the season tickets have been ridiculously cheap and we're talking about a service that's subsidised by the taxpayer to the tune of £1.2 million a year.

"These discount rates were available to everyone and I can't justify using taxpayers' money for these tickets to be a quarter of the going rate."

Published Wednesday, January 15, 2003

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