The coalition government has wielded its axe and chopped more than £100m worth of leisure projects and initiatives in the first round of a programme of cuts which aim to curb public spending and bring down the deficit.

The new Conservative/Liberal Democrat government has pulled the plug on free swimming, the planned visitor centre at Stonehenge, the £35m Holt Park wellbeing centre in Leeds, the £45m BFI Film Centre and a nationwide programme of modernisation of libraries.

In total, the government expects the first round of cuts to make savings of at least £100m within leisure, although it admits that the exact savings are hard to calculate. The cancellation of the projects is part of a larger cutting spree which the government hopes will save a total of £25bn in the first year.

As part of the savings, funding for the free swimming programme will end this summer. The government said the decision was made after "new research" suggested that the scheme has not delivered value for money.

Sport and Olympics minister Hugh Robertson defended the decision, which could save the government up to £40m.

"The research shows that the great majority of free swimmers were swimming already, and would have paid to swim anyway.

"With a crippling deficit to tackle and tough decisions to take, this has become a luxury we can no longer afford."

A further £17m will be saved through the axing of the plans to create a modern visitor centre at Stonehenge.

After decades of delays and controversy, English Heritage finally unveiled designs for a new £25m visitor centre at Stonehenge earlier this year and submitted a planning application for the scheme to Wiltshire Council.

Those plans are now dead in the water.

Making a case for the decision to axe the project, tourism and heritage minister John Penrose said: "I recognise the disappointment that everyone in the heritage community feels at today's announcement.

"But I hope that they, and others, will understand why this has come about - the costs and benefits of this project had to be considered in the light of the current financial picture."

Another controversial decision is the shelving of plans to build a £35m wellbeing centre in Leeds.

The Department of Health confirmed the allocation of £32m of Private Funding Initiative (PFI) credits for the new centre, which was designed to combine services provided by Leeds City Council's adult social care, youth and sports services, NHS Leeds, and the local community.

Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, Leeds City Council's executive board member with responsibility for adult social care, was dismayed by the decision.

"We are extremely disappointed, especially considering that we were preparing to begin work on the project within the next two weeks."

Responding to the swimming decision, David Sparkes, the chief executive of the Amateur Swimming Association, said: "Free Swimming has brought many new people to swimming and has helped to drive up significantly attendances in pools and has made an impact to the activity target.

"We will now work with Local Authorities, Primary Care Trusts and pool operators to see how we retain these new customers and encourage more people to swim."