Cheaper Pool Visits for Wellington City Over 65s

Visits to swimming pools and recreation centres just got cheaper for Wellington City's superannuitants.

Wellington City Councillors at today's Strategy and Policy Committee agreed to extend the Council's Leisure Card scheme to all of the city's superannuitants. The scheme gives Community Service Card holders, people on an invalids or sickness benefit, Green Prescription referrals, and recent migrants a 50 percent discount on admission to all Council swimming pools and recreation centres. Further discounts are also available on fitness programmes. People must be Wellington city residents to qualify for the Leisure Card.

Council staff have been reviewing the scheme in the last few months in an effort to make it accessible to superannuitants. They monitored the use of the Council's facilities to assess the financial impact of extending the scheme to those over the age of 65.

Research carried out during February, March and April this year showed the majority of visits to the pools and recreation centres were during off-peak times and Councillors agreed the financial impact of extending the scheme to superannuitants would be minimal.

The Council's Social Portfolio Leader, Councillor Ngaire Best, is thrilled the scheme will be introduced to superannuitants. "We have received a lot of feedback over the last few years from people over the age of 65 who wanted to be eligible for the Leisure Card. We are delighted to be able to offer these honoured citizens cheaper visits to our recreation facilities that tie in with Government schemes such as the Super Gold Card.

"The Leisure Card scheme encourages participation in recreation activities and will give our seniors the opportunity to improve their health and well-being. It also provides another area of the community access to a range of discounts. The more people who use our facilities the better."

Wellington City superannuitants who want to apply for a Leisure Card can do so by filling out the application form on the Leisure Card web page.