London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced plans to invest £7.5 million in community sports facilities in a bid to encourage Londoners to take up more fitness training.

Kick-starting the action plan is the Make a Splash scheme, which will provide mobile swimming pools in areas of London without such facilities.

The Skypool is a galvanised steel panel pool which can be suspended from the ground by its framework and installed on a temporary basis at a range of venues.

Two swimming pools have already been funded by the project, and will be placed in three venues each during the next year.

It is envisaged that 800 to 1,000 Londoners a week will go for a dip in the pools, of which 75 per cent are expected to be non-swimmers.

The mayor said the pools were just the start of the investment, adding that further details of developments in community sports facilities would be announced over the coming months.

He added that the Make a Splash programme was designed to ensure everyone got the opportunity to learn to swim, even if they do not live within the vicinity of a swimming pool.