By Derek Schlennstedt
Belgrave resident Ann Maynard has once fronted Yarra Ranges Council to request an extension of the Belgrave Outdoor Pool season.
Ms Maynard has been a strong advocate for the Belgrave Outdoor Pool and has lobbied hard for the extension of the pool season over the past four years.
Speaking at the Council meeting on 24 September Ms Maynard said that it made sense to extend the season until the end of daylight savings.
“I’ve come to speak to you about our four previous years petitioning to get our pool extended to the end of daylight savings,” Ms Maynard said.
“We’ve been asking, and asking, and asking and it’s been refused every time.”
The Belgrave Outdoor Pool, located in Borthwick Park is open to the public from November to March, though the date is dependent on weather conditions.
Ms Maynard rebuffed the council’s comments that there would be a reduction in swimmers after the closing date.
“Some of your previous reasons for refusal … was the cost of remaining open after attendance dropped as schools reopen after the holidays. The second, was the projected weather forecast.”
“We now ask council to consider ending the season as it begins, continuing to be open for lap swimming from 6am to 9am, closing for the day, and then reopening from 3am-7pm for families after school.”
Ms Maynard told the Mail that people were already swimming despite cold mornings.
“The season began early this month at the start of daylight saving, for morning lap swimmers as it always does, this is from 6am until 9am Monday to Friday. One of the excuses for not extending the season is the weather being cooler, and yet when the season begins, especially in the early mornings, the weather is frequently very cold, yet the swimmers
turn up.”
Yarra Ranges Council Director of Environment and Engineering, Mark Varmalis responded and said that a one-month extension would cost council around $27,000.
“To operate a pool you can’t stop putting the chemicals in, or running the filters, despite attendance dropping off, and quite frankly the attendance drops off because children go back to school and the weather declines,” he said.
“We see on the cusp of January to February attendances dropping by 60 per cent.
“It’s about a practical assessment and is it viable to keep the facility open when the Monbulk pool is 10 minutes away and if an outdoor pool is looked for, there is the Croydon pool at 25 minutes away.”
Previous iterations of the current petition have attracted over 700 signatures to extend the season and in the past two weeks, a current petition by Ms Maynard has received over 80 signatures.
The petition is available at the Belgrave Pool.
“Council are not listening … we pay some of the highest rates in Victoria and we should have a say on how long we can use our pool,” Ms Maynard said.
