Floored: Winchelsea’s Leisure Time Centre still in need of repairs

THE Winchelsea community has been waiting four years for get back into the Leisure Time Centre (LTC), and will have to keep waiting until an engineering assessment finds the best solution to repair the centre.

Local resident Tony Phelps has collected 620 signatures on a petition now submitted to the Surf Coast Shire urging the council to re-open the LTC, which he said was the town’s only hard floor sports facility.

He said the floor of the LTC – built in the 1970s on the grounds of Winchelsea Primary School – buckled in 2017 due to dampness underneath, which also pushed out one of the concrete walls.

“The roller derby group loved the new undulations, but it was less than ideal for basketball, karate, school indoor sports, the annual horticultural and garden show, or many other activities regularly held there,” he said.

“The damaged wall was successfully rebuilt some time ago, but replacing the floor is proving to be much more problematic.

“After four years, locals in and around Winchelsea feel it is time the sports hall was once more available to the community.

“Primary school children have no indoor sports facility, and the wider community of the Winchelsea region similarly have no nearby access to a large indoor space suitable for sports and activities requiring a hard floor.

“COVID-19 has been wreaking havoc on public events – the rollout of the vaccine should mean that they will once more be both possible and popular.

“The LTC needs to be ready to again host the garden show, the school concert, basketball, karate, Neighbourhood Watch Day, Zumba, roller derby and many other recreational activities for people to get fit, get out, and get involved.”

Surf Coast Shire general manager of culture and community Chris Pike said the council would table Mr Phelps’ position at its July 27 meeting, with a report in response to be prepared for the August 24 meeting.

Mr Pike said the Winchelsea Primary School had closed the LTC for safety reasons because temporary expansion floorboards, installed late last year to allow the school to use the facility, had moved due to increasing moisture levels underneath the floor.

“Council has been liaising with the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) and the Winchelsea Primary School to resolve the ongoing problems with the floor.

“The VSBA is assisting the school to undertake an engineering assessment to determine the best options to address the issues,” Mr Pike said.

“Council looks forward to receiving the findings of that assessment information from the school and VSBA as soon as it’s available to work out the best way forward from here.”

Mr Phelps said the LTC building itself and surrounding land was owned by the Department of Education, but the Surf Coast Shire was responsible for maintenance and upkeep of the facility while the school handled bookings.

However, Mr Pike said the school would have to make a contribution under the terms of the agreement signed by the council and the school to allow community use of the LTC outside of school hours.

“The agreement splits the costs for maintenance of the facility between the school (70 per cent) and council (30 per cent) to reflect its primary use as a school facility.”