Wiltshire Council has scrapped controversial swimming pool timetable changes which saw children banned from pools.

The surprise changes had caused outrage among parents who found their children turned away from their usual swimming sessions.

The new timetables, which had been rolled out across pools run by DC Leisure, saw cuts in the number of child eligible sessions and an increase in adult only swimming.

With the government’s new free swimming for children initiative, leisure bosses were concerned pools would become overrun with youngsters causing adult swimmers to stay away.

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said it had not authorised the programme changes. He said: “Wiltshire County Council and DC Leisure have done some excellent work in promoting the free swimming initiative, however the changes to the swimming pool programme were made without prior consultation with the council.

“The council is keen to ensure the swimming pool programme provides a range of sessions targeted at different groups and age ranges.

“Following discussions, DC Leisure have agreed to revert back to the original swimming programme with immediate effect.”

Mark Haslam, group swimming manager at DC Leisure, said: “We run the leisure centres on behalf of the local authority and if that is the direction they wish to take then we support that.”