‘Slap in the face’: Winchelsea residents push back on pool hours and pricing

COMMUNITY frustration is building over the operating hours and pricing of the Winchelsea Pool, with residents warning the arrangements will significantly limit who is able to use the facility.

The pool will open for its first full season on November 29. It will be open to the public between noon and 6pm daily.

It is a schedule locals say rules out meaningful access for many, including commuters who do not return to town until after 5.30pm and high school students travelling home on late buses.

Community campaigner, Haidee Benning, who has led the push for extended daily hours and a longer season, described the outcome as a “slap in the face”.

A community survey she initiated earlier this year suggested locals were interested in opportunities to swim early in the morning before work, and in the evenings after work.

“It’s not good enough to have a swimming pool that’s been closed for two years and the community not being able to use it, to then open it and have such a dismal season that still the community can’t use it,” Benning said.

The Surf Coast Shire ran its own round of community consultation on the pool’s hours through August, offering the option of consistent opening hours throughout the season, or shorter hours during the school term with longer hours on breaks.

Almost 65 per cent indicated the preference for consistent hours, but the survey did not offer the opportunity to provide feedback on the pool’s operational hours.

The pool will, however, close on days with a forecasted temperature below 21C, a move the shire says will allow opening hours to be extended on hotter days.

Benning said locals had long felt Winchelsea received less than Torquay from the shire.

“They cannot ignore Winchelsea any longer. It’s a very rapid growing area. Their plans for growth and development there, the number of housing estates that are going up – people can’t afford to buy on the coast anymore.

“They have to be allocating more money for sport, recreation, leisure, health, fitness and wellbeing.”

As reported by this masthead earlier this week, the pool’s new pricing structure, which does not include a season pass, has also sparked outrage from the local community.

The shire’s general manager of community life, Damian Waight, said the shire understood the desire to see the pool open longer, but hoped the community could appreciate “the factors we need to balance”.

“The midday to 6pm opening hours are the same as the hours prior to the pool’s redevelopment and these times generally take in the warmest part of the day, and provide opportunities for lunchtime swimmers, as well as families after school and work,” he said.

“The new closure threshold on cooler days, which gained a majority of support in our community engagement, will create opportunities for longer opening hours on hot days, weekends and public holidays.”

“We are listening to community feedback and looking forward to a great summer at the Winchelsea Pool.”