TORQUAY TO GET PUBLIC POOL AFTER CASH SPLASH
RUSTY WOODGER
A PUBLIC swimming pool will be built in Torquay after the state’s major parties made matching commitments yesterday.
Both Labor and the Coalition have promised $10 million to construct the new aquatic and leisure centre in Torquay’s north.
The pledges are well short of the project’s estimated total cost of $25 million, but the parties believe it will be enough to get the centre started.
South Barwon state Liberal MP Andrew Katos said further contributions would be sought from the Federal Government and Surf Coast Shire.
But he said the Coalition was willing to inject more state funding if money did not pour in from other levels of government.
“I think we’ve been waiting for that impetus for someone to actually stand up and say we will put money into this facility,” Mr Katos said. “That, to date, has not happened. We have not had anything of the sort.”
The pledge comes after years of community support for a public pool, with discussion dating back to at least the 1970s.
A campaign to build a pool hit fever pitch in 2015, with locals pinning bathers to a fence at a major intersection entering town.
But the push failed to gain traction with the Surf Coast Shire, which rejected the proposal due to expected high running costs.
Despite its decision, the shire held on to a vacant block of land on the Surf Coast Highway — next to its headquarters — to be used for a future aquatic centre.
Speaking at the site yesterday, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the shire had “done the right thing” by preserving the site, adding: “It’s about time Torquay got a pool”.
Once fully completed, the centre will include an indoor 25-metre pool, gymnasium, creche, cafe, change rooms and allied health consulting suites.
It would provide a local option for swimmers in Torquay, with many forced to travel 20km to use the Leisurelink facility in Waurn Ponds.
Surf Coast Aquatic Leisure Centre Action Group president Colin Fowler said the financial commitment was a “long time in the making”.
“Council set this piece of land aside a few years ago and we’ve been struggling to get some funding,” he said. “This will be a great start to have a full aquatic centre with hydrotherapy.
“We now have three new schools in the area and they’re all struggling to get pool time in Geelong, so it’s very important that a swimming pool is built in Torquay, and the quicker the better.”
Corangamite federal Liberal MP Sarah Henderson yesterday called on Surf Coast Shire to follow up the announcements by applying for money under her Government’s Building Better Regions fund.