THE cost of membership at Worcester’s council-owned leisure centres is set to go up by four percent.

Freedom Leisure, which runs Perdiswell Leisure Centre, St John’s Sports Centre and Nunnery Wood Sports Complex on behalf of the city council, needs to put up its prices.

Public swimming charges at Perdiswell are set to go up from £6 to £7 for adults and £4.50 to £5.25 for children.

Swim school memberships face the biggest increase of 10.5 perc cent while there will be no change in the cost of hiring artificial grass pitches at any of the three centres.

Lloyd Griffiths, the council’s corporate director for operations, homes and communities, told the policy and resources committee on Tuesday (November 19): “The average increase across all types of activity offered by Freedom Leisure is 4.4 per cent.

“Last year, Freedom’s costs increased by nine per cent, while their income only increased by four per cent so they’ve tried to set it at a reasonable level, taking that into account.

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“In the main, those costs are driven by the continued increase in energy costs and a rise in salary costs as well, linked to minimum wage and National Living Wage.”

Mr Griffiths said the increased charges would hopefully allow Freedom to invest more in its sites.

Council leader Lynn Denham said: “We’re lucky that Freedom Leisure is a not-for-profit organisation so these increases are not about increasing their profit.

“It is about enabling them to undertake community activities and maximise their health and wellbeing impact for our communities.”

Cllr Alex Mace said swim school class sizes at Freedom Leisure were increasing by 20-25 per cent.

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“I would imagine they will be seeing a 20-25 per cent increase in revenue as I don’t see the fees being decreased and indeed the swim school memberships are seeing the highest rise this year - 10 per cent on top of that increase in class sizes,” he said.

“I’m happy to support this but I’m not sure the balance is being struck correctly in terms of where they are raising their revenue. I’ll certainly be keeping a close eye on it in future.”

The proposed fees and charges for 2025 have been recommended for approval by full council in December.