Swimming group given new mandate

Dunedin city councillors voted this week to reinstate the aquatic facilities working party to make further recommendations on swimming space needs in Dunedin in the future.

The original working party was established in 2010 and recommended new pool facilities at Mosgiel as the best solution to addressing pressures on Moana Pool, but it lapsed after not meeting since November 2011.

A report considered by the community development committee this week said the working party needed to be reconstituted to consider work council staff had done since then on the financial implications of the options for the provision of additional pool space at Mosgiel and at Moana Pool.

Council staff reported in January they estimated a new pool at Mosgiel would cost $18 million, rather than the $11.5 million estimated by the working party, and meant a more modest upgrade at Moana Pool would be required.

The reinstated working party would consider the background material, staff analysis of the options and various reports and take a whole-of-city approach to assess the long-term needs of swimming across the city, which was a slightly broader approach than that of the previous working party, the report said.

The membership would be the same as the original working party, consisting of Crs Colin Weatherall, Bill Acklin and Kate Wilson and Martin Dillon, from the Mosgiel Taieri Community Board, with the power to co-opt one other councillor.

Cr Jinty MacTavish asked if Port Chalmers, which also has a pool and could be part of a short-term solution to alleviate swimming space pressures, should be represented on the working party, but council governance manager Sandy Graham said Chalmers Community Board chairwoman Jan Tucker had been approached and was satisfied that was not required.

The working party is to report back the preferred options to the community development committee by September 2013.

debbie.porteous@odt.co.nz