A meeting of representatives of local authorities, sports and leisure trusts and management contractors in the East of England has highlighted reservations about the government's Free Swimming initiative.

At a one-day event organised by Leisure-net Solutions and supported by CLOA, ISRM, ISPAL and sporta, delegates met to discuss the 'improvement agenda' and exchange of views on the advantages of the different methods of leisure services delivery. A workshop on the implications of the Free Swimming initiative saw delegates reporting significant shortfalls in the available funding and the estimated costs. None believed that free swimming would continue to be viable once government funding came to an end.

It was also felt that few new swimmers would be attracted and any increase in visitors would be largely down to existing swimmers attending more regularly because it was free. Further issues highlighted were learning to swim and the fact that children under the age of eight had to be accompanied by an adult, who may not be eligible for free swimming themselves.

Delegates called for clarity for leisure pools and a decision on whether swimming sessions could be limited, either by time or a by a certain number of sessions per person per week. David Albutt, policy officer for CLOA, who chaired the Free Swimming workshop, said: "Most delegates expressed concern about the initiative, not least that it had been announced in the national media a full month before local government had been consulted.

"In Wales, both CLOA and local government had been involved from the start, which allowed many issues to be successfully managed. The lack of time to respond and the timing of the announcement in terms of the councils' budget cycles were key concerns." The event also discussed the London 2012 Olympics and the Eastern Region.

Mike Hill, managing director of Leisure-net Solutions, said: "It is quite rare for the various deliverers of public sector leisure to attend the same event and this lead to a lively debate on 'how do we get better at what we do'."