Shire to consider feasibility study into Torquay pool next week

THE long-awaited and hotly-debated aquatic centre for Torquay is floating back to the surface, with the Surf Coast Shire council to consider the project at a meeting next week.
At the special council meeting on Tuesday, June 16 – which will be livestreamed – the council will receive the findings of a feasibility study it commissioned to investigate a 50-metre pool and associated facilities in Torquay.
There is $30 million collectively on offer from both the state Labor and federal Liberal governments for the aquatic centre.
As a result, councillors resolved at their January 21 meeting to carry out the feasibility study into an aquatic and health centre with a cost of up to $30 million and with all options to include a 50-metre pool.
At the time, the feasibility study was costed at $50,000 and was expected to take about four months.
The report to councillors noted there was “a risk that not accepting the funding offer from two levels of government means that such funding may not be available in the future”.
The study is to also cover options that include facilities beyond that which can be delivered for $30 million that will deliver lower net operational cost, as well as reference to previous community consultation, notably 2015’s Testing the Water engagement findings, but not any new community consultation.
There have been calls to build a pool in Torquay since the mid-1970s, and there has been considerable political wrangling more recently over the aquatic centre at both state and federal level.
The state Labor government committed $10 million to the pool in the lead-up to the 2018 state election, while former Corangamite Liberal federal member Sarah Henderson promised $20 million specifically for a 50-metre pool.
Ms Henderson lost her seat to Labor’s Libby Coker (who pledged $15.3 million for a 25-metre pool if Labor won) but returned as a Victorian Senator in a re-elected Liberal Government.
The council meeting agenda, including the officer report and feasibility study, will be available on the council’s website from tomorrow (Friday, June 12) afternoon.
Tuesday’s meeting will be held via Zoom and members of the public will be able to watch proceedings via the council’s livestream service.