The poor state of London's council-run sports facilities is exposed by the Evening Standard today.

Figures show a postcode lottery in sports amenities, with six out of 33 local authorities lacking an athletics track.

And the cost of using facilities varies dramatically, with one borough charging £60 for a basketball court while others make them available free of charge.

The Standard is campaigning to ensure that the pledge to create a community sports legacy from the London Olympics is delivered.

Groups representing grassroots sports called on local authorities to provide more subsidies. Brigid Simmonds, chairman of the Central Council of Physical Recreation, said: "These are publicly-owned facilities and should therefore be priced at a level which most people can afford.

"The fact is that taxpayers' money has paid for these sports centres. To then price many of them out of using them is simply wrong.

"Many governing bodies of sport complain that they are being priced out of local authority facilities because their hire is so expensive. Local authorities should be required to offer reduced rates for voluntary sports clubs."

• Camden, Enfield and Merton all charge about £60 for an hour's basketball while Redbridge and Islington charge £7.70 and £4.50 respectively, according to the latest figures from Cipfa, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountability.

• Bromley charges £4.20 for an adult swim (£3 concessions); Westminster charges £1.70 (55p); and some boroughs offer free swimming on a seasonal basis.

• Tennis is free in Sutton and Enfield, and the most expensive for an hour's session is in Greenwich, where adults pay £12.30 and juniors £7.55.

• There are also big differences for the hire of outdoor pitches, with Lewisham charging £93.35 for football (excluding changing room) compared with £16.50 in Ealing. A full-size allweather pitch costs £125 per hour in Haringey compared with £24.65 in Tower Hamlets.

The figures for 2007/08 offer a like-forlike comparison and are compiled from "leisure services" statistics from each council.

A spokesman for Bromley Mytime, which runs the council's sports facilities, said: "We need the money to invest and improve quality which keeps the customers coming back. We compare ourselves to our neighbours in Kent which might be to the top end of the scale. We are very popular and had three million visitors last year."

More evidence of a divide in the standard of sports facilities offered by councils emerged in details obtained by the Standard under the Freedom of Information Act.

Fears that London may fail to maximise the benefit to grassroots sport are underlined by the disclosure that there is no running track in six London boroughs, including the Olympic borough of Hackney.

Figures show Wandsworth to be the best equipped borough. It has 73 tennis courts, five swimming pools and two running tracks as well as green spaces such as Wandsworth Common which are used for football and running. Wandsworth council leader Edward Lister said: "We are a very young borough and we work hard to make sure that this is reflected in our sports amenities." In contrast, Southwark has six tennis courts, four swimming pools, four basketball courts and no cycling or running track.

London currently has just a single functioning indoor 50-metre pool, the Gurnell Leisure Centre in Ealing.

The Olympic-sized pool at the National Sports Centre in Crystal Palace remains mothballed until the end of the year. Beijing and Berlin each have 12 Olympic-sized public pools.

Paris and New York each have seven and Madrid has four. London is on a par with the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, which has only one 50-metre pool.

Today the London Assembly launched an inquiry into the state of the capital's pools amid concerns that low income groups are being excluded because a high proportion are privately run. The Assembly's committee for economic development, culture, sport and tourism will publish a map showing areas without public pools within 20 minutes' walk of local people.

It will also investigate public transport access to swimming facilities and future provision of public pools.

The committee wants to see if Londoners will benefit from a £140 million government scheme offering free swimming to children and pensioners, which is due to start next spring.

In the last few years several pools have been abandoned over claims that they are too expensive to run, despite fervent campaigning. The latest was Charlton Health and Fitness Centre. Another is Haggerston Pool, which was closed in 2000 as Clissold Leisure Centre was due to open nearby.

However the Clissold building was beset with problems, with the cost spiralling to £45 million - six times the original estimate. It opened in February 2002 but had to be shut in November 2003 on health and safety grounds.

Crystal Palace, where many Olympic swimming hopefuls used to train, was criticised as woefully inadequate and closed.

Years of underfunding meant swimmers using it had to contend with problems from unreliable heating to pigeons fouling the water.

Other closures include Forest Hill Baths in Lewisham, shut down in 2006.

The Evening Standard's charter to deliver an Olympic legacy

• Create sporting inspiration and facilities "that last for the generation to come"

• Secure access to top-class sporting facilities for all

• Ringfence money to secure Olympic legacy and ensure millions more participate in sport

• No more sell-offs of school or council sports facilities

• Establish a system of "Olympic Champions" with top athletes going into schools to inspire children, teachers and parents