Community submissions fire up over Gunnedah pool access

Community members have rallied against a proposal to provide financial assistance and dedicated swimming lanes to clubs utilising Gunnedah Memorial Pool.

Gunnedah Shire Council tentatively agreed to allocate three swimming lanes at the community pool to Swimming Gunnedah, one lane to Gunnedah Triathlon Club and waive $2000 annually in fees for the club’s lane hire and usage charges.

The funding agreements were subject to a public exhibition period of 28 days. This consultation fielded more than 20 submissions from the community in response.

Key themes raised in the submissions included community concern over potential reduced access for learn to swim operators and programs; and reduced access to children’s swimming lessons worsening existing demand for learn to swim programs. The submissions argued that learn to swim programs are critical for community safety and swimming club development, and should be given priority access to pool lanes.

Other submissions highlighted perceived unfairness and inequity in council granting financial support and pool lane access to Swimming Gunnedah Inc and Gunnedah Triathlon Club. These concerns held a view that the proposed pool lane allocations disproportionately favoured the clubs and do not serve the broader community, reducing pool lane access for the general public and young families using the pool recreationally.

Other submissions suggested a lack of consultation with impacted stakeholders, and requested that council reassess proposed pool lane allocations to reflect community need and undertake further community consultation with all impacted stakeholders.

The matter was scheduled to be heard at last night’s ordinary meeting of Gunnedah Shire Council where it was also recommended that a decision be deferred. This was due to council receiving legal correspondence pertaining to the allocation of pool lanes and associated matters.

“Given the short time between receipt of this correspondence and this council meeting, further time is needed in order to properly consider the matters raised in that correspondence and to provide a response,” council’s June business paper stated.

“Council staff are therefore recommending that this matter be deferred to a future council meeting to allow adequate time for this to occur. The risk of proceeding with a determination on pool lane allocations, which will be enacted by way of the funding agreements, at this time is that this may be in conflict with other processes not yet determined.”

The publicly listed proposals noted the swim lane allocations for both clubs would be for the purpose of swimming training for two hours each morning and afternoon, four days per week, with morning sessions possible between 5.30–8am and afternoon sessions between 3–7pm.

It was proposed these club agreements would run for a period of three years with lane allocations reviewed annually on the basis of attendance numbers, to be obtained quarterly.

Additionally, the funding aggreement for Swimming Gunnedah also included a provision that the Dan Killick room be made available to Swimming Gunnedah for the purpose of dry-land swimming training, however, if not in use by Swimming Gunnedah for this purpose, the room shall be available to other user groups as determined by council. Swimming Gunnedah would be permitted to utilise the room for storage of dry-land swimming training related equipment only, additional/unrelated items would not be permitted.