THE community led charge for an aquatic centre in Tamworth is adamant it won’t take a backwards step as council officially starts its consultation.
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Tamworth Aquatic Group (TAG) president Grant Simm admits the consultation and business case could ultimately sink the proposal, but he said the city “couldn’t go backwards” from its current situation.
Tamworth Regional Council will officially start its consultation on the case for a “new aquatic and leisure facility” on Monday, giving the community a chance to have its say on what they want a new facility to look like.
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“This is progress,” Mr Simm said.
“We have some of the best sporting facilities in NSW.
“But where we fall behind is in aquatic facilities.”
Mr Simm said it was “a worry” the facility mightn’t eventuate after the business case is delivered in December 2018, but he believed there was a solid foundation for an upgrade.
“The current pools are losing money and have increasing costs,” he said.
“You don’t want to throw good money after bad.
“A new facility would reduce maintenance costs and increase usage numbers, just due to the events and comps we’d get and that’d flow-on to the rest of the community.”
Council’s acting manager of sport and recreation Murray Russell said the aim was “to design a facility that meets the needs of our community now, and into the future”.
“We know that our region is growing in population and we also know that we are seeing an increase in major events that can be held in the city,” Mr Russell said.
“We’ve done a lot of research on aquatic and leisure centres across Australia, and we know that they are more than just a pool” he said.
“What we’d like the community to tell us is what features and services are valuable to them.”
Council has previously said it planned to sell the Scully and city pool sites in Tamworth and earmarked a site to locate and operate any new aquatic centre next to the Sports Dome.
“We know the proposed location, and that it is not financially viable to maintain the two existing pools upon completion of a new facility,” he said.
“As such, this consultation is focused on the features and services that residents want to see within a new facility.”
Residents can complete a council survey online or they can collect a paper form from any council office, the survey closes on February 28.