LEISURE chiefs in Kidderminster are in danger of driving swimmers out of the town's baths through over zealous safety enforcement, it has been claimed.

Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate Mark Simpson said a large section of the Wyre Forest Glades Leisure Centre pool was now out of bounds to children under eight.

Mr Simpson, who swims at the Glades every weekend with his four-year-old son, George, said safety policing had been stepped up at the pool to an unacceptable degree.

"I've taken George there for nearly two years without a problem, but last weekend after buying our tickets I saw that only a very small area at the shallow end of the pool was available for parents with young children."

Mr Simpson said he regularly swam at other baths in Stourbridge, Wombourne and Wolverhampton, and none of these prevented parents supervising their children swimming on a one to one basis from moving out of the shallow end of the pool.

And he claimed other parents he spoke to at the Glades were equally angered at the restrictions at the baths.

"One father who had travelled from Redditch had a seven-year-old son who was a qualified swimmer for his age, yet he had to remain in the shallow end."

"It's been taken too far. I can understand not taking risks but this is bizarre and unacceptable. At a time when we are trying to encourage people to use leisure facilities in Kidderminster this risks driving people away to other facilities nearby."

But Andrew Dickens, head of cultural, leisure and commercial services at the district council, denied that restrictions had recently been stepped up at the Glades.

He said the Glades, in common with other swimming pools in the region, enforced national rules laid down nine years ago.

He said: "We've had probably 30 or 40 people who have requested we review restrictions and that's exactly what we're doing at the moment."

He added that a decision on national safety guidelines was expected in six to eight weeks.