Pool study on way

By Tania Martin
EMERALD residents have dived behind a call for an indoor swimming pool in town.
A petition of almost 1300 signatures calling for a swimming pool was presented to the council last week.
Councillors at their meeting last Monday, 21 August, agreed to undertake feasibility study for an Emerald pool during the 2006-07 financial year.
The council set aside $20,000 in this year’s budget for the study.
Ranges ward councillors Graeme Legge and Ed Chatwin led the decision for the council to look into the issue.
“People in the hills area are going outside the shire to swim,” Cr Chatwin said.
“A swimming pool in Emerald is a great idea.”
Jean Chatwin from Emerald has been leading the campaign for a swimming pool in town since March.
She said the idea for a pool first came up three year’s ago just before the 2003 council election when Cr Graeme Legge called for residents to fill in a wish list of what they wanted to see in Emerald.
She said a swimming pool, sporting facilities, a skate ramp and a BMX park were all on the wish list.
However, Mrs Chatwin said it wasn’t until the beginning of this year that she was told that the council had no plans of pursuing plans for a swimming pool in Emerald.
“It was then that I thought it was about time I got out there and did something about it, so I started the petition,” she said.
Mrs Chatwin said a lot of people from the senior citizens were longing for a swimming pool so that they could do their water exercises without having to travel to Monbulk or Pakenham.
She said the swimming pool would be a simple complex without the gymnasium and cafes usually seen at aquatic centres.
“We want a 50-metre swimming pool so we can do laps, diving boards, a pool for young children and one for rehabilitation for young and old people.
“We just want a simple no-frills indoor pool,” she said.