A leading rural health expert has grave concerns about the socioeconomic and health impacts Tamworth Council’s proposal to close both City and Scully Park pools will have, as council prepare for a third round of consultation.
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Council resolved to sell both pools to developers in order to build a $40-60 million facility next to the Sports Dome last year, and have recently been accused of “completely ignoring” ratepayers and residents concerns on the issue.
While the community are more than aware of the need for either a new, or upgraded facilities, many are not willing to see two centrally located services replaced by one on the southern edge of town.
Chair of North West Health Professionals Network and local GP Miriam Grotowski is “very concerned” about the impact that reduced access and increased costs will have on the health and wellbeing of the local community, particularly those with less disposable income and access to private vehicles, including children.
“Keeping at least one of the existing pools open with the new services would be ideal – access is a real concern, and so is transport – it is a real hike out there from some areas,” she said.
“I hope that council are really looking into these issues and not just only meeting the needs of a certain element of the community.
“I can’t see how people who live in Coledale and Westdale, or even further out, would have the same access.”
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Acting TRC general manager Peter Resch told The Leader that council believe access to the proposed facility “will be reasonable for a town the size of Tamworth”, although was unable to predict entry fees or annual charges for users.
“We will be going back to the community with a number of concept options starting from this Saturday,” Mr Resch said.
“We will then put together a business case of the exact mix of facilities the community want, and present that to council by the end of this year.”
However Dr Growtowski is not convinced that the greater community are fully aware of the proposal, or just what impact losing the central facilities will have.
She said marginalised people who might benefit most from easily accessible and affordable pools have been proven to be “less likely to proffer ideas as readily as others in consumer surveys or consultations.”
“There needs to be a community led focus – the consultation needs to go to them in the community in a manner which is appropriate,” she said.
Both rounds of community consultation have already come under fire from the Ratepayers Association (TRRRA) for being “unobjective” and even “biased”, which has now been backed up by Dr Tracy Schumacher, an expert in rural health and survey construction.
Dr Schumacher, who is a postdoctoral researcher and academic at Tamworth’s University of Newcastle campus, took particular interest in the recent round of random phone surveys, where council called 600 people from the entire Local Government Area, representing less than 0.1 per cent of the population.
This survey was conducted by Micromex around a variety of council issues including the aquatic proposal.
The opening to the aquatic facility aspect of the survey read “Currently Tamworth has two outdoor seasonal pools that are at the end of their operational life with rising maintenance costs and limited functionality.
“The aquatic and recreational needs of the community have changed over the last 50 years. On this basis Council is considering a new indoor/outdoor year round facility that is more than a pool.
The survey was conducted in October.
“My concern about the potential for bias comes predominantly from this paragraph,” Dr Schumacher said.
The survey then continued with “It will be a facility that provides a social hub for activity, fun, health & wellbeing for the whole community…”
“This particular sentence may be interpreted that the current outdoor pools do not also provide these services, or that only the new facility can provide these things, which could lead to a biased result,” Dr Schumacher said.
Recently the TRRRA sent a letter to council in regards to the survey.
“It appears that the individual(s) who designed the survey instrument did not have a sufficient level of detachment from the issue,” the letter read.
“The language reflected that of a ‘sales pitch’ rather than a neutral, unbiased survey question.”
The TRRRA are yet to receive a response to either this letter or an official submission outlining a list of nine concerns presented to council on October 9.
