South Ribble councillors are set to decide on whether to register their interest in going ahead with the scheme at Wednesday's cabinet meeting.

But on the eve of the vote, the council's cabinet member for Coun David Suthers expressed his concern at the financial implications.

He said: "The difficulty with making this decision is that with the amount available for South Ribble, although it sounds like quite a lot, we don't think it will go anywhere near what is required to provide this scheme.

"There will be the loss of income through the doors and if there's a big take-up we'll have to get in extra pool attendants. If we don't have enough grants how do we allocate the shortfall?"

The government has announced a £140m scheme to push free admission for public swimming baths, with a view to leaving a lasting legacy following the 2012 Olympics.

They have made £80m of that available for grants, but only from 2009-2011.

There are three ways for a local authority to get involved - to register an interest in providing just free swimming for over 60s, or free swimming for both over 60s and under 16s, or free swimming for both and a slice of the £60m available for capital schemes such as upgrading pools.

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