A COUNCIL has foregone a government offer of free swimming for Under 16s in favour of a wide range of sport and physical activities.

Instead of taking up the £50,000 offered by the Government to provide free swimming to youngsters, Darlington Borough Council is hoping to use £200,000 from Darlington PCT to run schemes to get people more active.

The council receives around £225,000 in revenue from swimmers at the Dolphin Centre and therefore even with the government funding it would leave a £175,000 shortfall.

Council officers believe that providing free swimming for youngsters is not necessarily the best way to tackle childhood obesity and encourage more people to get active.

Although most of the authorities in the Tees Valley have signed up to the government scheme, at its meeting next month, Darlington's cabinet is expected to provide free swimming for over-60s but not for Under-16s.

Mike Crawshaw, the council's head of cultural services, said: "The main reason (for not taking up the scheme) is that the resources we could channel into this could be much more targeted and have a lasting impact rather than short-term and headline grabbing.

"The swimming could just be used for play and there's lots of barriers to swimming.

"If you've never been physically active the idea of putting a swimming costume and going into a pool, you might not be happy with it."

The council will also agree to commit extra funding to activities and events along with the £200,000 from the PCT.

These would include: * dance mats in every secondary school.

* A Tees Valley Youth Olympics every year up to 2012.

* Subsidised travel to sporting facilities.

* Community based physical activity programmes.

* new sporting equipment.

* Young peoples allotments.

* The Darlington Family Walk.

* Involvement in the Darlington Food Festival.

All the activities will give people who do not exercise, or have trouble accessing sport, the chance to get involved.

Andy Scott, the council's cabinet member for health and leisure, said: "The government's free swimming scheme is a good idea.

"However in Darlington we feel our young people would benefit more from long-term investment in specific areas of the borough and in a wide range of sports and physical activity."

Miriam Davison, the Darlington Director of Public Health, added: "The national strategy, Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives, includes the priorities of promoting children's health, promoting healthy food and building physical activity into our lives.

"The programmes are designed to appeal to a broad range of people across Darlington."