A PROPOSAL to cut opening hours at Meadowlands and Parklands has sparked outrage from early morning swimmers in Tavistock and Okehampton.

The move, to take place from April 1, is expected to save cash-strapped West Devon Borough Council £20,000 a year.

At Meadowlands, most weekday sessions will start at 8am instead of 7am. A session has been cut on Saturdays, and morning sessions on Sundays will also start an hour later. At Parklands many morning sessions will be starting an hour later and the pool will be closing an hour earlier.

But swimmers, many of whom are members at the pools, are furious at the move — and lack of consultation regarding the change.

Geoffrey Allen, who swims most weekdays at 7am, said he, and many others, would no longer be able to do so, due to work commitments. Mr Allen said he was considering cancelling his membership with Leisure Connection as a result.

'Many adults will lose their exercise time, the importance of which is stressed by the health fraternity,' said Mr Allen, who knew nothing about the proposals until last week.

He slammed the consultation as 'dubious', with no open feedback being published.

Ian Kilpatrick, who swims at least three days a week at 7.30pm, said: 'People who swim before work are the ones who will really lose out here.

'For me, with two artificial hips, swimming is the only cardio-vascular activity I can really do. And it's going to cost me more, because the car parking charges take effect from 8am.'

Mr Kilpatrick said it would make more sense to reduce the number of lifeguards from three to two on quiet swimming sessions — and he was scathing about the consultation prior to the move.

'Consultation? What consultation? There hasn't been any as far as I am concerned,' he said.

Member and early morning swimmer Ian Penrose said he only heard of the proosals last week.

Mr Penrose said: 'Who and when did they consult? We must be their most regular and loyal "group" so why didn't they consult with us, especially as we are the ones affected?'

Jackie Jones, who swims six mornings a week, said to claim any consultation had taken place with early morning users of the pool was 'a joke'.

'I've never even heard of this user group,' she said.

The change in hours was approved by the borough's environment committee on January 18, subject to confirmation of the savings from Leisure Connection and after feedback from user groups.

Nick Payne, the borough's head of environmental services, said: 'The council doesn't take any pleasure in having to implement these measures, but we have to take more than £800,000 out of the revenue budget for 2011/12, compared with the year we are now in, and the only way we can do that is by having to make some fairly difficult decisions.'

Mr Payne said the council started negotiations with Leisure Connections to see if there was any way savings could be made on its contract. The company informed the council that the lowest usage of the pools was in the early mornings.

Mr Payne said the council consulted with the Parklands and Meadowlands user groups and 'no serious objections' were received to the proposals.

A spokesperson for Leisure Connection said: 'Any changes are considered fully and in consultation with the users and customers.

'Customer forums were held in January for Meadowlands Leisure Pool and in February for Parklands Leisure Centre, Okehampton, during which the proposed changes to the pool timetables were discussed.

'After no serious objections to the changes the comments were passed on to West Devon Borough Council. Leisure Connection work in partnership with West Devon and its customers to ensure we deliver a valuable community service.'