Community
4 June, 2025
Pool attendance soars, but so do costs
A SPIKE in attendance has bolstered Corangamite Shire’s public pools during a bumper 2024-2025 season, but $3.7 million in costs loom as the infrastructure reaches end of life.
Councillors unanimously noted the Swimming Pool Season Review 2024-2025 at last week’s Ordinary Meeting of Council.
The report showed 35,810 attendances across the shire’s six pools during the season, an increase of 24 per cent.
Camperdown, Cobden and Terang pools all enjoyed surges in visitation, while at Timboon attendance grew from 7000 to 12,000.
The Skipton and Lismore pools experienced a slight decline in visitation.
Gnotuk Ward councillor Ruth Gstrein moved the recommendation to note the review, saying the strong attendance reflected the value of the assets to communities across the shire.
“We had over 35,000 patrons attend the six pools over the summer, and that is a significant increase and is obviously put down to the much better weather as well as the number of events,” she said.
“They all contribute to bringing people to these well-loved facilities.”
While the boost in attendance proved positive, a recent assessment of the pools highlighted significant works are required over the next decade.
Each of the pools located in Corangamite Shire were built in the 1950s and 1960s, and will require significant works over the next decade as they reach their end of life.
The long-term works total in at more than $3.7 million, with Camperdown ($1.01 million), Timboon ($841,000) and Terang ($611,000) topping the list.
The need for immediate works was also identified at $356,000, with Timboon ($275,000) and Camperdown ($32,000) requiring the most investment.
“We’ve had a 10-year maintenance report completed which was a bit of an eye-opener for councillors at the briefing to see the deterioration, particularly the infrastructure beneath the pool,” Cr Gstrein said.
“Work that needs to be carried out over the next 10 years amounts to about $3.7 million, but there is an immediate need of $356,000 to be spent, which has been allocated in the 2025-2026 budget.”
Cr Gstrein said the cost of operations also presented an issue, with a bill of over $950,000 for year-to-date costs.
“The other thing I thought was quite interesting is the total expenditure on pool was $954,000, which when you divide by the attendance is $26.65 per visit, so they’re certainly not cheap to keep open,” Cr Gstrein said.
“The message we always say is use it or lose it, so we encourage people to continue to support the pools.”
Mt Elephant Ward councillor Nick Cole, as seconder, said it was important to maintain pools to keep them open as learning to swim was one of life’s necessities.
“The pools are not cheap to run or maintain,” he said.
“The older the facilities, equipment and assets are, the more they cost to maintain.
“However, swimming is such an important part of the things we must learn in life because you never know when you’re going to need to swim.
“Being in Australia, being surrounded by water, we need pools to learn how to swim and cope with any problems we may face.
“I think it’s one of the essentials of education that we all learn how to swim properly – as we see by the statistics going up, people get in to trouble swimming because they haven’t learnt to swim properly in earlier years.”
Leura Ward councillor deputy mayor Laurie Hickey said swimming pools were also at the forefront of connecting people.
“The pool has always been an iconic part of our community, as long as I can remember,” he said.
“It’s always provided an opportunity for socialisation, for people to mix, to meet each other and to enjoy some refreshing cool when air conditioners were not prevalent right throughout the whole community as they seem to be now.
“The pools are a great meeting place and they still are – they reflect our healthy outdoor lifestyle, and the very fact there was 35,000 visits last season reflects the fact they are still very well regarded in our community.”
Councillors also noted and offered appreciation to council officers, YMCA and committees of management for their dedicated efforts behind the scenes.
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