By JESSE GRAHAM
THE closure of Healesville’s indoor pool has been ruled “off the cards” by Yarra Ranges Mayor Fiona McAllister as concerned residents petition the council.
Councillor McAllister confirmed that the council was working with Healesville High School, which runs the Jack Hort Memorial Pool, to resolve the pool’s situation quickly and said that closing the pool was not an option.
“I’ve been contacted by people from Kinglake and Marysville, saying ’please don’t let it close’,” she said.
“That’s not on the cards at all.”
The announcement comes after pool manager Ross Ilsley told the Mail earlier this year that the pool faced being closed before March 2015 due to a $50,000 running cost loss, sparking concern from a number of local pool users.
The public pool has been run mostly on the high school’s funds and hours have been drastically cut back at the pool since December to ease the financial strain.
A 30-year funding agreement, signed in 2001, stipulates that the council and school will work to find a solution if the pool runs at a loss.
Currently, a table of petitions sit at the entrance to the pool, urging community members to rally behind the cause and to help save the pool and reinstate its recently-slashed opening hours to their former status.
Cr McAllister said the pool was in a unique situation – it sits on Education Department land, is run by the school, and receives some funding from the community, Rotary and the council.
“I completely understand the principal’s frustration – it’s an incredibly unusual situation for a school to be in,” she said.
“I’m doing everything in my power to get it resolved as quickly as possible.”
She said the council would be having a follow-up meeting with the Healesville High School to discuss the situation in the near future.
Healesville Swimming Club president Mark Melville has urged for a solution to be reached, and for hours to be brought back to usual because morning swimmers are missing out.
“It’s had a reasonable impact on the club – particularly our swimmers,” Mr Melville said.
“The reduction in hours makes it difficult to get in the longer training sessions that the older swimmers need.”
He said that, should the pool close, the club and its 35 members would be “homeless”, and that the cuts have made it hard to bring new coaches and members to the pool.
“It’s difficult to get some long-term commitments – there appears to be no guaranteed future,” Mr Melville said.
“We need to draw a line in the sand and say ’what’s going on?”
Yarra Ranges Council is currently finalising a feasibility study for a new aquatics centre for the Yarra Valley, which is set to be discussed at the council in the next two months.
Cr McAllister said the study had been in the works for about 18 months and that a new aquatics facility in the area would cost millions of dollars.
“We’re not talking two or three million – it’s going to be a lot of money,” she said.
Cr McAllister also said the council would be reviewing its aquatics strategy in the near future, which would take about 18 months.
