The heated indoor pool used by the Carterton Swimming Club is due for an upgrade. PHOTO/CARTERTONSWIMMINGCLUB
CHELSEA BOYLE
The fate of South Wairarapa’s only indoor heated swimming pool is still in question but one thing’s for sure, Carterton District Council will be not taking on the responsibility of operating it.
Carterton Swimming Club (CSC), who own and operate the pool, is not ruling out any options — from the most basic “lick of paint” scenario to a “gold standard” — that would keep an indoor swimming pool in South Wairarapa operating.
The facility is long overdue for an upgrade.
It was built 30 years ago and had a use-by date of two decades.
It is showing its age with tell-tale signs of rust from a lack of ventilation.
Early this year, CSC formed a review group with the Carterton District Council that would come up with a feasibility study.
That study is still plodding along, with the group hoping to have a full picture of the options by Christmas.
CSC secretary Rik Anderson said it was a community asset that needed to meet the needs of both Carterton and South Wairarapa.
“The report is taking a little bit longer than anticipated because we are actually trying to come up with something that covers all bases, and then the committee can look at its funding options.”
They wanted to firm up numbers about how many people were using the pool and take into account its wide range of uses – aqua aerobics, learn to swim programmes, school groups and more, he said.
The outcome of the Carterton’s sports hub also had a big bearing on their work, because the original sports hub design had a swimming pool attached to it.
“They have now discounted that, it’s now off the table,” Mr Anderson said.
If the pool at the sports hub had gone ahead, the CSC’s pool would only have been kept going until the new pool opened.
There was now greater urgency to what the review group was doing.
The goal was to keep an indoor, heated pool in Carterton.
They wanted as many children as possible to learn how to swim, he said.
Everything from sausage sizzles, lotto grants, and local trusts, would be considered for funding opportunities.
“The council has been 100 per cent supportive of us getting to where we are,” he said.
Carterton District Council chief executive Jane Davis ruled out council taking over the indoor pool.
“The club will always be a standalone club.”
But she was optimistic about the pool’s future.
“The maintenance works the club needs to do is pretty superficial — there is nothing fundamentally wrong that we can see at this stage.”
Ms Davis said they were working together to ensure what they decided on would be “fit for purpose looking into the future”.
If they wanted to host different swimming-related activities, they may need to expand, she said.
A likely option on the table was the creation of a shared changing room, used by CSC and the users of the outdoor pool which is owned by the council.
Both the council and the CSC would be expected to contribute to that financially, Ms Davis said.
Whether the council would put some coin towards the indoor pool itself was much less likely.
“It’s way too early to even speculate on that . . . it’s unlikely,” Ms Davis said.
“The council would be a last resort option, we don’t think that that’s actually going to be needed because clubs like the CSC should have access to a whole lot of other funding options, like lotto and all sorts of other options, which we as a council would not have access to.”
They did not want to lose that asset in Carterton, she said.
“The indoor pool is a fantastic asset for Carterton and the swimming club is a really successful club, partly on the back of Russell’s great coaching success, but the club is getting stronger and stronger.”
I think it is an important asset to the town and the children learning to swim. If the council wants to upgrade the town like the high street. Lets get behind the csc and support them as best we can. O think its very poor of the cdc not to be more supportive . I am a local resident and see just how much that pool is used. Come on cdc get your funding sorted !
Let the club pay for it. Whenever I try to swim there, there is always club training going on. I was told you could swim after 8.30 pm! Or try your luck at 6am with all the others. so crowded, not pleasant at all.
The one time I did swim after club training the water was so dirty looking and I put my back out trying to get the pool cover back on. Never again.
that is not good. But I would hope that it is issues like this that the cdc would address
A bit of exaggeration there mate with the water being ‘SO DIRTY’ bugger off up to masterton pool then!