The proposal to build a supercentre pool at Hylands Rd Greystanes and close all the other pools in Holroyd is not the best thing for our community.
Location: Hylands Rd is not centrally located for all residents,
Access: All the existing Holroyd Pools in Merrylands, Guildford and Merrylands are easily accessible by public transport. Hylands Rd is in an isolated Industrial area which will force residents to use their car to access the pool
Use: Currently schools, swim groups and local residents all use these pools. All these groups will have to travel further distances to access a public pool.
Supported Community: The Holroyd City Social Plan 2010 identifies as a key social outcome for our community to be a supported community with accessible services and facilities for all. Once pool for the whole area will not meet that outcome.
Council argues that patronage is declining at ageing, unattractive pools. While money has been spent in maintaining these facilites operationally, the buildings and amenities have been left to age and run-down with no substantial facelifts or renovating to make them more attracitve and modern which would help increase patronage.
Yeah, ratepayers mucking out $20 for every $5 entry fee is such a better idea.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Pools were designed for a bygone area, the establishment of boutique recreational alternatives, electronic alternatives and demographic changes have turned residents away from the pools. Build facilities people want to attend now - not 50 years ago!
DeleteI do not believe that getting rid of 3 pools and making only 1 is the answer.
ReplyDeleteIf you live in Sydney’s North, South or Eastern suburbs you have access to beaches, unfortunately living in the Western Suburbs means that if we want to have go swimming there are no beaches, therefore our only option is to use the local swimming pools. Many of us in the Western Suburbs would love to live near the ocean but we simply can’t afford to. I feel we already have so many disadvantages in Western Sydney and now they want to take our pools away from us!
It’s a well known health fact that swimming is one of the best forms of exercise that you can do, most doctors will recommend it for their patients. I’ve personally taken it up recently because I have some health issues and my doctor recommended it. I’ve felt a lot better since swimming and now Holroyd Council wish to take that away from me and the local residents!
It may or may not be a lot of money to keep the 3 pools open, but I think this is a short sighted opinion, the overall health of local residents is improved if they go swimming, they may or may not choose to do this, but for residents like myself who do use the local swimming pool the health benefits are enormous. Conversely unhealthy people impact on the health system.
In any case I think the profit motive should not be the most important because I believe that council should be providing us with facilities, we don’t expect our roads our hospitals to make profit for us, so why do we expect our pools to? They should be part of the benefit that we receive from paying our rates.
Even if the new pool has a lot more facilities than the other 3 pools it will not be easily accessible for everyone as opposed to the current pools, in particular Guildford and Wentworthville are located near the train station, having 3 pools in different areas also means that the locals of each suburb have a nearby pool as opposed to only having one suburb with one big pool.
My understanding from people who have been to the Stanhope gardens pool is that it is always packed because it is servicing a huge area.
Following on from my previous comment:
ReplyDeletePeople are also pouring into Western Sydney at amazing rates, this is the area that most immigrants come to because they simply can’t afford to live elsewhere, so how will one pool cater for all of the people in this area in 5 years?
We have numerous shopping centres yet they expect us to make do with one pool!
Also we can’t be sure that this new “super pool” will be all that anyway, what if it isn’t all that big. For instance will it have a lap pool for people like myself who want to increase our health benefits by swimming laps? Or will everyone be jam packed into together? Also as far as it having services such as fitness, well we can’t be sure if that will just be another gym, along the lines of every other gym that means we have to pay membership too, so it may not be affordable for local residents anyway to go to the gym (or other fitness facilities) provided. My understanding is that some leisure centres make you pay extra to use the other sporting facilities, so it’s not any different from using a private gym.
The other issue is what will happen to the land that the existing pools are situated on? It wouldn’t surprise me if council have an ulterior motive in selling off that land for housing development, Holroyd is already so built up, we need some open space. In particular Merrylands pool is situated on an area with sports grounds, will these eventually be removed too?
If we make the mistake of saying yes to one pool before it is built and discover that it isn’t all that good by then it will be too late because they will have closed the other pools.
Also council have just sent a survey out regarding the pools, yet I’ve only just got this in the mail today but it has to be posted by Thursday next week to be included in their survey! This hardly gives residents time to address themselves with the issues and post the survey back.
The survey is also quite unfairly worded, because it states that the new leisure centre would provide a greater range of facilities, therefore giving the survey an unfair bias.
Additionally why should any of this be funded through a special rate variation, what are our current rates being used for? I would think with our rates added to the amount of over development of Holroyd that council surely must be making some money from all this that can be used to keep our 3 pools.
The pools were built in a time when we had a smaller population in Holroyd, with the increasing population and housing development of Holroyd there would be many more people paying rates than when these pools were first built, so if anything Holroyd council should be better able to afford maintenance to these pools then the councils that initially built them.
This is the last part of my comments:
ReplyDeleteWHAT YOU CAN DO:
We are all time poor, but 2 quick things you can do:
A. If you agree with what I am saying then please leave a comment on our blog (even if you are flat out, a quick comment like “I want 3 pools not 1” would be great, you don’t need to join up or login to comment, and you can be anonymous so it’s pretty quick.
B. Send in your survey to council ASAP and choose the first option: “Commence repairs of the three Swim centres…..”
Regards
Dianne Ellis
I'm wondering if the person who wrote this comment some time ago about $20 per person is a member of council? Because if this amount is true (and I'm not sure it is) I doubt the average resident would have known the exact cost breakdown per person.
ReplyDeleteAt two of the three swimming pools there are local swimming organisation I locally swim at Guildford pools and I have noticed that the swimmers from the club mccredie park aquatics which is run at Guildford pools are lovely. they are always offering to help with things and son a Friday night they participate in races and one night over the announcement i heard that some of the swimmers are making nationals !! this is wonderful and if you shut down local pools that have wonderful well mannered swimmers and future superstars there well then i don't know the council is making a huge mistake. Also instead of closing down all three pools why don't you just fix the other pools up for example add a shaded area or grandstand to Guildford pools or even make a 50m pool with 8 lanes that would certainly attract more people especially science Guildford is a tiny pool but has so much land space. it would be a lot cheaper to modernise or add a couple of things to the pools than shut them down and have a mega centre
ReplyDeleteI didn't realise some of the swimmers were doing so well and making the nationals, well that's another of the many reasons we need our pools. And I agree Guildford has the land to be upgraded, in fact Merrylands has a lot of land too. Any or all of these pools could be upgraded with more modern facilities.
DeleteI agree. I will vote to keep the existing pools, because it is so much easier to get to a local pool, and that is better for everyone's health. More and more services are being centralised.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone noticed how our small local shops have been shutting down, though some are still left. Not so long ago, the community health centre did a survey, and they found that it was used mostly by the people who lived nearby. I think this is what will happen if they take away the local pools, and build one massive one. And I've heard that the new pool might b located at Greystanes, well, to my mind, that is not an easy location to get to for many people.
Also, as one other comment points out, the survey said nothing about what would happen to the areas of the old pools. Are they to be sold, and cause the loss of the existing sports facilities, and green space in some. When a survey information only gives you part of the info, then I have concern. Are we to have more massive blocks of units and lose more green space, more local facilities? I heard one councillor say, not enough people are using the pools, well they need to look at why, rather than jump into doing away with them. The council needs some to use some vision and make the pools much more welcoming. Keep our pools!
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ReplyDeleteIts great to see some feedback about our pools. For council to take these comments seriously it would be good if you can include your name at the end of your comment. Otherwise it may be thought that the comments are being made by only one person. When I set this blog up I probably could have set it up better in that way.
ReplyDeleteRegards
L. Nash Byron Rd Guildford
as a heavily multicultural area populated by many people who have come from countries where swimming is not a part of the national pastime, I believe that HCC has a responsibility to its constituents to provide as many different (and centrally located) pools as possible in order to make it easier for people to access regular swimming lessons. Furthermore, as an area with many older people the Guildford Heated pool is a good place to exercise.
ReplyDeleteR. Mahon, Guildford
Hi r.mahon, I agree, I also think the health ramifications of not having a pool can't be overlooked, as you say elderly people can keep in health by swimming as it is low impact, I myself took up swimming regularly to help my back as my doctor told me it was one of the best forms of exercise I could do. It would be great if there were any health professionals out there who wish to comment?
DeleteD Ellis
I've just found this article:
ReplyDeletehttp://parramatta-advertiser.whereilive.com.au/news/story/battle-looming-over-pools/
Seems from this Clr Vasee Rajadurai and Clr Yvette Whitfield are in support of us keeping our pools
Re the article I just mentioned above, quote"
ReplyDeleteTogether the three council-run pools operate at an annual loss of $1.9 million. It will cost an estimated $10 million of ratepayers’ money to bring them fully into line with state public health and safety regulations.
And tied up in the pools is $5.6 million of plant and equipment and millions of dollars of council land.
Cr Rajadurai thinks it is money well spent.
“It is not losing if we are providing services - the council gets $70 million a year and we need to provide services. This is a core service,” he said."
Local pools provide many benefits for communities. One super pool does not allow the same degree of access to people across the community. HCC Have you seen the "super pool" just a short drive down the motorway or a train ride away? Its called Olympic Park Aquatic Centre and is a great facility. However this is not whats needed in the Holroyd council area. We need community pools providing life saving, enjoyable, recreational activities for the ratepayers of the area.
ReplyDeleteFor many without access to a car, having a pool within walking distance is vital. Public transport can also be an extra unaffordable cost. The 3 pools are conveniently located for a larger number of residents. Keep the 3. K.whale. Merrylands West
ReplyDeleteI support the maintaining of the existing 3 pools, as they are suitable placed for the needs of the community. We don't need a "Stanhope Gardens" or "Olympic Park" pool, particularly so far from the centre of the Holroyd Council area.
ReplyDeleteMy bigger concern was that the "community consultation" letter we received last week was woefully inadequate. It referred to a need for a special levy for two of the three options, but made no mention of what how much of the cost would need to be raised by that special levy, and therefore what the cost per household would be, and over what period.
Considering the pools are paid for by our council fees anyway (and, yes, special levies if required) something is rotten in the state of Council, where the levy appears to be some sort of "scare tactic" without full disclosure.
Local Resident: I also support the maintaining of the three pools. For special treats families can take their children to the Olympic Centre (at a much higher cost) but for regular use it is handy to have them located where they are.How many years would we be without any pools while this mega centre would be built?
ReplyDeleteI've been following the comments here with interest, and I am one who commented earlier. I do understand someone saying we should put our names on our comments, but really most survey's are anonymous, and the bottom line is that the survey the council sent to us was pretty inadequate. It had limited information and limited our responses to an anonymous tick in a box. All the comments here are very relevant to the topic, and I hope the council takes them on board. Anon.
ReplyDeleteThanks, that is a good point and of course people are welcome to remain anonymous if they wish. Regards
DeleteProblem with heating Guildford Pool
ReplyDeleteI went swimming at the indoor pool at Guildford recently and it was extremely cold, even though it says on the board it was 29 degrees.
I did 20 laps yet I still felt very cold, shivering as I was swimming. So I asked the pool attendant to check the temperature and he went away and checked it and said it was 29 degrees.
This isn't the first time this has happened to me there, the previous week I went swimming there twice and one time it was ok, the next day freezing, despite the fact there was more people in the pool that next day.
I really wanted to go for a swim during the week but dreaded the ice cold water at Guildford, I was concerned about it making me sick or hurting my muscles, as its not good to exercise cold, so last night I decided to compare the temperature at other pools so I swam at the Whitlam Centre at Liverpool. Their pool was 28.3 degrees, yet the water was fine! So there is no way the Guildford pool can be 29 degrees!
I've heard from newspaper reports that Guildford recently had a pump problem, I'm wondering if that has happened again.
Also I know the council says that not enough people are visiting the local pools, if that is the case perhaps it's because the pool is so cold.
I’ve emailed council about this. Anyone else having the same issue?
Why do some Councillors and Mayor Whitfield even still keep talking of a new swim centre at Hyland Road, Greystanes? Council's own $50,000 feasibility study doesn't even recommend Hyland Road as a suitable site.
ReplyDeleteHi Gillian, thanks for your comment. I’m interested in knowing more about the council’s feasibility study, and you seem to know a bit about it. If you have any other info that’d be great. For instance I heard from someone else that Merrylands pool was mentioned in the study as the best option, but I haven’t read the study so not sure if that is right, not sure either where to get a hold of that study. So any info you have on it would be great.
ReplyDelete