Empty pool blow for pupils
A Manawatu¯ school fears its pool could be out of action for most of the summer after empty promises from a contractor has left the swimming facility uncompleted and unusable.
The pool at Longburn School is sitting empty and it needs to be fixed before it can be filled with water after a resurfacing job two years ago failed.
The contractor has been promising to fix his work for the past two years, but says he has been busy and has threatened the school that he won’t do the work if this story is published.
The school’s principal, Jo Emerson, said the school paid Bruce Cameron of Beccote $8000 to $9000 to resurface the pool, which he did, but shortly afterwards the paint product started coming off and became discoloured.
Emerson said Cameron told the school there was a problem with the product and he would redo the job, but it still hasn’t been done.
The school had asked for the repairs to be done by December 6 so it could hold its annual wet-and-wild day, but the work wasn’t completed.
The school emptied the pool so Cameron could sand it, but it’s sat empty.
Emerson said the pool was wellused by the community and she was concerned the job might not get done at all.
‘‘The real fear is if you leave it sitting there, I’ve always been told the concrete will crack.’’
Camerson, Beccote’s director, told Stuff bad weather and Covid-19 had delayed his work, but he still planned to honour the job.
‘‘I’m halfway through a swimming pool I have to finish and if I don’t finish, the hard thing is I don’t get paid and I can’t support my family.
‘‘I’ve been working some crazy hours and it’s taken longer than I thought.’’
He expected to finish the current job this week and he said on the next fine day, excluding Christmas, he would finish the school pool, which would take about a day.
‘‘I’m sorry for any delays. I had every intention to finish it on Sunday.’’
But after speaking to Stuff, Cameron sent a text message to Emerson to say if an article were published he would not finish the pool, and he was under no legal obligation to do so.
When he first did the work the company behind the trading name was Beccote Manawatu¯ Ltd, but the entity is now Beccote Ltd.
Emerson said if the school board paid someone else to do the job that money would come out of funds for the children.
‘‘We’ll do the utmost to keep the pool running for the community.’’
The school usually hosts a wet-andwild day at the end of the year, but because the pool wasn’t able to be used, the school paid for three buses to take children to Makino Pool in Feilding.
Lequita Robinson’s two sons Tyler, 11, and Lochie, 9, go to Longburn
School. They normally use the pool over summer, but haven’t been able to this year.
They live nearby, but will have to go into Palmerston North if they want to swim in a pool, so were disappointed at not being able to use the school facilities.
‘‘So many kids out here use the pool,’’ Robinson said.