13381/2MEMBERS of a respite club for young people with special needs face a huge increase in admission fees and a reduction in club hours.

The Saturday Specials session at the Leisure Centre in Marlborough, provides activities for five to 20-year-olds.

Young and older members meet on alternate Saturdays for three hours and pay £3.20 for the session.

Kennet District Council now wants to more than double the cost of each session to £6.75 but reduce the length to only two hours.

Some parents say they will have difficulty in finding the extra money and one has already said she will no longer be able to afford to send her son.

Parents are also telling Kennet that while three hours gives them time to go shopping in Swindon, two hours respite would not be long enough.

Among the hardest hit parents will be Philip and Pat Draper from Pewsey who pay for their two sons to attend.

Colin, aged 20, and Ryan, aged 17, both suffer from Down's Syndrome.

Mr Draper said: "It will be difficult for us to find the extra money.

"We have to give the boys some cash to buy a drink or a bar of chocolate so with the extra admission it will cost us about £15 every time they attend."

Mr Draper said he did not believe the council was going through a consultation process, as leisure services manager Andrew Smith claimed.

The letter sent to parents started by referring to proposed changes to the Saturday Specials activity.

However, in the penultimate paragraph, Rob Hayday from the Marlborough Leisure Centre said: "With effect from Saturday July 24, at the start of the summer holidays there will be a new format and price".

Mr Draper said he believed what Kennet was calling a proposal was in fact a fait accompli.

One of the activity instructors who helps at the Saturday Specials told the Gazette the admission increase was far too high and there was no justification for cutting the session times from three to two hours.

The instructor said: "It appears that without any consultation at all Kennet has decided to go ahead with this huge increase while taking an hour off each session."

"The parents have not been consulted whatever Kennet says. The children cannot join in other activities at the centre because of the special supervision needed.

"There is no other club for special needs youngsters at the leisure centre."

The instructor also made the point that two hours respite would limit the things parents could do while their children were cared for at the Specials.

"It has to be three hours because the members eat as well; it's part of their day. Clearly in the eyes of Kennet District Council these youngsters are not so special."

Mr Smith told the Gazette on Monday: "Nothing has been decided yet. The intention is to consult people on these proposed changes. When we get the feedback we will decide.

Asked about the swingeing increase he said: "The cost of one to one standards of care is very expensive."