Free swimming

The government have announced plans to provide £80 million to provide free swimming for the over 60's. Great for grabbing the headlines but is there likely to be any real benefit from this?

Walking's always been free as far as I can recall, yet people are doing less and less walking. Could this suggest that maybe cost isn't the issue for most people.

Why target free swimming to the over 60's? According to the governments own data, the main age groups that don't do enough physical activity are males aged 46-55 and females aged 16-25. What help are the government providing to get these groups more active?

Yes put more money into leisure facilities, but why not allow local authorities to receive money to spend in a way that will benefit their community most positively. This could be improving public rights of way, subsidising swimming costs for all or even providing better support and information for people who do want to get more active.