The Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) has expressed disappointment at the government's decision to withdraw £25m of funding set aside for the upgrade of swimming pools.

Sport England was due to distribute the cash on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education towards a total of 44 of council and school pool projects. However, the government has now decided to axe the funding as part of a bid to reduce public expenditure and tackle the national deficit; a move the ASA admitted it had been expecting.

ASA chief executive David Sparkes said: "Given that the participation part of the Free Swimming programme has already been axed, and the amount of cuts being made across Government departments, this was not surprising news. "The way forward now is to see how the modernisation of pools can be continued with no commitment to government funding. This will be a challenge but we will continue to work with pool operators and local authorities on the best way to do this."