So will the Harcourt Pool close?

Tonight a group of about 60 people attended the council's information session at the Harcourt Leisure Centre on the proposal to develop a Mount Alexander Shire Aquatic Centre and site it at the Western Reserve in Castlemaine.

Mayor Philip Schier addressed the audience and gave an overview of the proposal and invited questions from the audience.

Amongst the concerns and views raised by members of the audience were the following:

• Council seems to be favouring the closure of the Harcourt Pool which is in opposition to Council's efforts to help redevelop the centre of Harcourt to allow economic growth post the bypass by the Calder Freeway.
• The feasibility study and comments by Mayor Philip Schier do not indicate the impact that the closure of the Harcourt pool will have on the return on investment. Instead, the Harcourt pool is lumped in with other pools, including Castlemaine pool, to try to justify the numbers in the proposal.
• Removal of the pool will endanger local children by encouraging them to swim in dams and irrigation channels.
• The cost of entry to a Castlemaine based Aquatic Centre is 2.5 times the current cost of entry to the Harcourt Pool. Combined with transport costs, this will reduce the number of opportunities that Harcourt children can afford to swim.
• If transport was available, and that is a big IF, Harcourt parents have concerns about sending children on public transport after school hours. This concern does not exist when they can walk to, or ride a pushbike to, the Harcourt pool and be in amongst their local community.
• Though the travel time from Harcourt to Castlemaine seems deemed to be inconsequential for Harcourt residents and residents of surrounding areas such as Ravenswood, Faraday and Sutton Grange, and not a detriment to using an Aquatic Centre at the Western Reserve, Harcourt was not considered as a possible location even though a site at Campbell's Creek was considered.
• The feedback form provided by the council is biased toward the closure of the Harcourt pool as it's two main propositions are YES (do you support the proposal?) or NO. The feedback form does not ask, Do you support the closure of the Harcourt pool?

Fellow Harcourt residents that I spoke to after the meeting were left with the feeling that the decision to close Harcourt pool has already been made.

I sure that others will add to this blog and add the points that I have missed. If others are not forthcoming with their support and if we cannot change the current proposal to one that will allow the Harcourt Pool to stay open, then we are missing a huge opportunity for the future of Harcourt. A future that should be able to be built upon the efforts that the community has already laboured for many years to establish.

If you are not on the mailing list for the Harcourt Pool please send an email to garryholmes@harcourt.vic.au