Tamworth Regional Council's proposal for City Olympic Pool - Tamworth Adventure Pool
The TRRRA is a non-profit association whose charter is to represent to Tamworth Regional Council (TRC) and other government bodies on behalf of TRC residents on matters that affect their interests by any person, organisation or government body.
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The below comments are made as a matter of public interest to assist Tamworth Regional Council in its decision making.
The proposed Tamworth Adventure Lagoon has some appealing features, water splash features, seating and social areas, shade sails, barbeques, café with indoor and outdoor seating, change rooms and accessible toilets, first aid rooms, and water stations.
While the proposed renewal of the pool area is reassuring, the loss of the existing Olympic size pool is a major concern.
However, the recent decision by TRC at their meeting on the 8th August to replace the City Olympic Pool with the proposed Tamworth Adventure Pool independent of whether the Tamworth Regional Aquatic Centre at the Longyard proceeds or not is a major concern passed by TRC Councillors. Such a circumstance would leave us with only the existing Scully Park Pool to service all of Tamworth.
Tamworth has a population of about 43,000. When the South and West Tamworth Memorial Pool (Scully Pool) was built by return servicemen so their children and the nearby schools could use the pool, Tamworth had a population of approximately 20,000, also catered for by the Tamworth City Olympic Pool. Tamworth, now doubled in size is expected to have a single Olympic size pool at Scully Pool.
The arguments made to this Council previously for retention of the Tamworth City Olympic Pool are the same and are still as valid requirements of access, equity and participation;
- Council obligations to maintain and revitalise community assets;
- Tamworth has one of the highest rate of obesity in Australia, physical activity needs to be supported;
- Tamworth's increasingly hot summers need more facilities to offer community refuge;
- TRC could increase pool patronage by offering activities such as laps, learn to swim, surf lifesaving courses, general recreational use;
- The City Pool is part of a greenspace;
- Other users of the pool who make use of pools for recreation and other sports related activities, apart from the swimming clubs.
In peak morning and evening periods these two pools cannot cater for the existing demand from users, with three and four people per lane. What will the situation be if the existing pools are replaced and do not meet the requirements of the rate paying public?
City Pool users include East Tamworth Primary, St Nicholas Primary, West Tamworth Primary, St Joseph's Primary, Oxley Vale Primary, Oxley High School, Calrossy and McCarthy High school, and make regular use of the pool during the warmer months and you often see them walking in groups to the City Olympic Pool. These student numbers are approximately 5,300 people.
Scully Park caters for the Tamworth High School, South Tamworth Public School, Hillview School, St Edwards School and Peel High School totalling about 2,950 students.
The most pressing argument is for school children and young people to have access to low-cost entry pools, in reasonably accessible locations, which is why the existing pools are located where they are.
It is also noted that when a recent freedom of information application was made, the feasibility study for the Tamworth Adventure Pool was not supplied and revealed the survey responses consisted of 1093 in total, a number that is manifestly inadequate.
Then Tamworth Adventure pool must include an Olympic size pool.
In respect of the proposed Tamworth Regional Aquatic Centre (TRAC) at the Longyard at a cost of $45 million, it also noted that there appears to be no publicly available information of the proposed plans, unlike the two or three previous iterations of the proposal. Entry costs for the previous versions were estimated at $20 per head per visit.
While it is noted that the State Government has promised $15 million for the TRAC, what is not transparent is the component that might be applicable to the Northern Inland Centre of Sporting Excellence (NICSE) that is proposed to include gyms, allied health consulting rooms and sports science facilities. It would appear, in the absence of publicly available plans, that the NICSE has been rolled into TRAC in the hope that it will be more attractive to the Commonwealth Government. What is likely to happen given the current political and economic circumstances is to put the NICSE at risk as well. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that this approach puts at risk the NICSE as well as the TRAC proposal.
Tamworth Regional Residents and Ratepayers Association Limited
