SWIMMING has become so popular in Bolton that hourly sessions have been introduced at to cope with demand.

Leisure facilities have been used 1.3 million times and 4,500 children are having swimming lessons, having signed up in the past year.

Use of the new leisure centre at Horwich has surged, with a 23 per cent increase in footfall in its first year alone, compared with the old facility which was next door.

Cllr John Byrne said the reason for the increase is the new build. He said: “It’s the state-of-the-art facilities. It’s great that we’re getting a lot of people using them, it’s fantastic how swimming has taken off.

“The facilities before were just past their sell-by-date.”

Thousands of children are currently taking swimming lessons at the centre, run by Swim England on a rolling basis.

As a result of the increasing popularity of swimming in Bolton’s leisure centres, a band system has been introduced at Bolton One and Horwich Leisure Centre limiting swimmers to having one hour only in the pool during peak hours.

At Bolton One, the policy runs for family swim sessions between 11am and 2pm on Saturdays and 10am and 2pm on Sundays. The system is also in place in the small pool at Horwich Leisure Centre on Sunday mornings.

The council says this measure has been put in place to allow as many people as possible access to the pools.

The new Horwich centre in Victoria Road cost £10 million and opened at the end of 2017, with the old facility next door being demolished. The new centre was described by council officers as the “jewel in the crown” at a scrutiny meeting on Tuesday night.

Speaking at the meeting, Horwich North East councillor Joyce Kellet said: “It just shows, Horwich is a great place to live.”

Astley Bridge councillor Paul Wild also congratulated town hall staff for a successful year which has seen the facilities run by Bolton Community Leisure Trust used 1.3 million times, including 181,000 visits from people over 65.

Bolton Community Leisure Trust runs five council owned leisure centres across the borough including those at Farnworth, Westhoughton and Leverhulme Park.

All adults over 65 and all under 17s living in Bolton are entitled to free casual swimming at the centres.

Environmental services scrutiny committee chair Richard Silvester described the results as “wonderful”.

He added: “Wouldn’t it be great if national government would follow our lead.”