Pool lobby hopes plan favourable
Centennial Pool advocates hope the Government’s blueprint for the central Christchurch rebuild will not put moves to consider repairing the facility in jeopardy.
City council deliberations on the draft annual plan, amended after public submissions, hearings and recommendations from Mayor Bob Parker, will start on Monday.
In it a new recommendation is that council look at the feasibility of funding temporary repairs to provide interim swimming facilities while a new central-city multisport facility is built.
Save Centennial spokeswoman Simone Pearson was ‘‘delighted’’ the pool repair had been added to the draft plan because there was an ‘‘urgent need’’ for swimming facilities in the city.
‘‘This is what we’ve been asking for,’’ she said.
Once the 2012-13 plan is approved by councillors, the central-city projects may have to be adapted to fit with the Central City Development Unit (CCDU) blueprint, due on July 27.
Pearson said members of the Save Centennial group had met unit second-in-command Greg Wilson.
She said Wilson had not given any signal that the unit was eyeing the Centennial Pool site. Rather, he had said it was a ‘‘problematic’’ site because of its triangular shape.
A unit spokeswoman said no site would be off the cards until the blueprint was signed off.
A council-commissioned costestimate report by engineering consultants Beca found repairing the pool would cost up to $2.3 million once insurance money was factored in.
The facility is one of 10 bigticket items identified in the annual plan.
The Centennial Pool would be demolished once stage 1 of the facility opened.
Stage 1 of the multisport facility would include 50 and 35-metre water-sport and competition pools, leisure pools and a swimming education pool.
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee said at the CCDU launch that all land and building owners in the central city should consider waiting for the blueprint to be released before they rebuilt or repaired their buildings in case that particular parcel of land was needed urgently for something else.