THE number of youngsters and teenagers taking advantage of a scheme which allows them to swim free of charge at five county swimming pools during the summer holidays has fallen.

In 2013, 28,076 people took advantage of the offer but that figure has dropped to 25,352.

Despite the decrease, enjoyleisure has continued to support the local authority’s initiative to award free child swim sessions to anyone under 18 throughout the summer holidays.

A spokeswoman for enjoyleisure told the Courier: “Since its transfer to a Leisure Trust, enjoyleisure has continued to award free child swim sessions to under 18s throughout the six-week summer holiday period.

“In 2015, enjoyleisure welcomed over 25,000 young people into its pools. While this is a slight decrease to the previous year (eight per cent) enjoyleisure will continue to offer this scheme as it is valued initiative for engaging with East Lothian’s young population and providing an outlet for kids to enjoy being active, free of charge, throughout the summer holidays.

“An exact analysis of this decrease is unknown; however, enjoyleisure believes this may be due to the increased summer activities offering provided by both enjoyleisure and East Lothian Council.”

More than half of those taking advantage of the free sessions are choosing to go to Dunbar, which boasts a 'flume', with 14,628 using the scheme this summer at Dunbar Leisure Pool.

That figure is slightly down compared to the previous two years, with the only figure increase coming at Haddington’s Aubigny Sports Centre.

In 2013, 3,675 used the sessions, with the figure dropping to 3,035 last year before bouncing back to 3,679 in 2015. At the Loch Centre in Tranent, 1,583 used the sessions this summer, with 3,820 at Musselburgh Sports Centre and 1,642 at North Berwick Sports Centre.