Members of Our Town Our Say in Batemans Bay are inviting the Mayor and her councillors to check their facts.
John Mobbs of the group told the Beagle "During the Our Towns Our Say (OTOS) campaign to try and save the Batemans Bay 50m pool, or have a new one included in the future MacKay Park complex, we’ve heard much rhetoric from the Mayor and her executive staff, claiming that no one wants 50m pools anymore. This is mere parroting of a claim made by OTIUM." "In June 2018, OTOS members carried out a survey of all 128 councils in NSW. This was achieved by visiting each council’s website, retrieving their pool information, making telephone calls to verify or clarify that information, using high resolution digital aerial imagery from the NSWGlobe to validate information and in some instances, visually measuring the pools to determine length. Time-consuming but necessary in the light of our ESC’s constant spruiking of inaccurate information. " "The results, summarised below, show that 50m pools are still quite popular. In most areas, councils have 50m and 25m lap pools (or 33m pools) as well as leisure pools for learning, splash play or kids water activities. For our survey, 33m council pools were counted as 25m pools." "Aquatic centres are certainly appearing, when older single-pool facilities are upgraded, but privately owned and operated centres (for instance in Penrith) were not counted, neither were ocean pools – real or imagined!" Mr Mobbs now invites the Mayor and Councillors to consider the facts below. The Facts • 27 councils (21%) don’t own/operate 50m pools (but note private pools). • Some councils have more than one and up to seven 50 and/or 25m pools. • There are 172 50m pools across 128 councils. • There are 196 25m pools across 128 councils. • 151 (42%) of these pools, combined, are heated for year-round availability. Mr Mobbs said "Several councils have successfully refurbished their 50m, 50-year old concrete pools, (like ours) including new vinyl liners, resealing of expansion joints, destructive testing to confirm their pool’s structural integrity (a technical service that was offered to ESC by Brown Consulting in 2014 - but ignored), replacement of pipes and sand filters (like ours) and integration of the refurbished pool within a new aquatic centre (yes! – that’s what we wanted!)." "All of these options were and are available to ESC! "Some councils involved their community in the process of pool redevelopment at the outset (wow!), asking for opinion and giving them a say in the design and level of facilities." For those interested, and hopefully the Mayor and her councillors you can see how they did it on these two websites" Snowy Valleys Council: http://www.snowyvalleys.nsw.gov.au/Have-Your-Say/DipYour-Toes-In-and-Have-Your-Say The Hills Shire Council: https://www.thehills.nsw.gov.au/Contact-Us/Have-YourSay/Waves-Aquatic-Centre-Upgrade
"It may suit the Mayor’s ideological enthusiasm, probably supporting her Director of Infrastructure’s view, to claim that 50m pools are unpopular – but she should check the facts first!"
