PARENTS have criticised proposals to double the number of children being taught to swim in a pool at the same time.

Many of those with children attending council-run swimming lessons at Chester-le-Street Leisure Centre are unhappy after being told that beginner and improver classes are to be taught together in the learner pool.

They were informed by letter before the next term of swimming lessons began. They were told it was to reduce the number of children on the waiting list.

But parents such as Annabelle Chapman, of South Pelaw, near Chester-le-Street, say there will be so little room in the pool that children will be too cramped.

She said: "The trainer pool is not very big. I would have thought the maximum you could teach in there would be 14 to have enough space for them to move, but there will be at least 20.

"It will be especially hard for the little ones listening to an instructor with another instructor shouting at the same time within the space of a small pool and I'm sure they will find it daunting with the older children there as well."

A spokesman for Chester-le-Street District Council, which runs the centre, said there were a lot of people on the waiting list for swimming lessons and they had been trying to find a way of providing a service for them.