On Monday night the fate of Valentine's 25-metre, 15-metre and hydrotherapy pools will be determined by Lake Macquarie City councillors and mayor Kay Fraser.
Valentine pools have been an institution in our community for more than 55 years, offering the only all-year-round indoor community swimming facility in eastern Lake Macquarie.
Uniquely run by community volunteers, the much-loved facilities have catered for lap, squad and social swimmers, toddlers learning to swim, disability groups, rehabilitation patients, schools (including Windale, Floraville, Valentine, Belmont North and Belmont public schools, Belmont High School and Belmont Christian College) and offered multiple swimming programs.
Being a 55-year-old community facility, the pools need to be upgraded and, in some instances, rebuilt. The ability and tireless effort of the past and existing volunteer committee members to keep these facilities open to the public should be commended. It is important that any decision that council makes has the direct input and approval of the volunteer committee. This is appropriate given they have built and operated the infrastructure on land owned by council at Valentine for more than half a century.
Swimming is a survival skill (not an optional extra) when you live on a small stretch of land wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the largest saltwater lake in the southern hemisphere. The Valentine pools have an existing catchment population of 35,060 people and a forecast population of 39,968 people. These population numbers far eclipse the existing catchment population numbers of Toronto, West Wallsend, Morisset and Swansea pools.
If you add the Swansea Pool catchment population onto Valentine, as the Swansea facility is outdoor and not open in autumn and winter, the eastern Lake Macquarie catchment population balloons to more than 51,000 people. This figure is forecast to increase to 65,000 people, all potentially without access to an all-year-round indoor community swimming facility.
The request to invest and upgrade swimming facilities in Lake Macquarie is nothing new. In 2003, the council took over the Morisset Swim Centre to ensure that a community-run facility was not closed forever. In 2006, council bought the privately owned Toronto Swim Centre for $2 million and has since spent $8 million redeveloping it to ensure it is fit for the future.
It's time to invest in eastern Lake Macquarie and Valentine pools.
Cr Adam Shultz is a Labor Councillor on Lake Macquarie City Council for East Ward
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