Three Upper Mountains pools which had been slated to close have been saved, after strong public opposition led to a council rethink.
Katoomba’s 50m outdoor pool and the leisure and toddlers’ pools at Blackheath will all be retained. Council is also proposing a learn to swim pool to replace the two small outdoor pools at Katoomba.
The new plans come after extensive consultation with the community, with engineering experts and with a golden opportunity of $2.5 million funding through a joint commonwealth/state government program, the Western Sydney City Deal.
A report endorsed by council at its meeting on Tuesday night noted the fierce public outcry over plans to close the pools, with nearly 2000 submissions received and another 350 people responding to an online survey of Katoomba pool users.
Council also consulted extensively with the Friends of Blackheath Pool group. Its convenor, Jennifer Ross, was at council’s meeting on Tuesday night to say thank you.
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“We really appreciate the way council worked with us to solve the issues around Blackheath pool,” she said, adding “we were impressed by the resilience of the staff who stood in the empty pool when the snow came down”, referring to a winter meeting to nut out the issues.
John Tognolini, secretary of the Blue Mountains Teachers Federation Association, said generations of young students to come will benefit from learn to swim classes and older students will continue to enjoy school swimming carnivals at Katoomba’s 50-metre pool.
Council is anticipating that funding from the Western Sydney City Deal will allow it to install more seating and better weather protection around the Katoomba 50m pool. It is hoped the two toddler pools outside can be transformed into a learn-to-swim pool with a “beach entry” and graduating depth to 0.9m with associated water play features, new family change rooms and outdoor showers.
A troublesome filter system will be fixed by isolating the 50m pool from the two little pools.
At Blackheath, a monitoring regime prepared pro bono for the Friends by local engineering consultants will be adopted to check on movement of the leisure pool shell and surrounding area.
The report to council noted: “There are risks surrounding the continued operation of the leisure pool. These risks have been assessed and it is considered that they can be managed and monitored.”
It concluded: “The retention of the Katoomba 50m pool and the Blackheath leisure pool will ensure community needs continue to be met.”
