At their regular Council meeting this week, Council delayed consideration of the Indoor Aquatics Provision Feasibility Study and Business Case to the March 2025 meeting of Council when it will be considered by the yet-to-be-elected councillors.
The development of the Feasibility and Business Case started in November 2022. Solucio consultants were contracted to undertake the study at a cost of $160,000. The project included another community survey. Two years later, there has been no report on the outcome of the consultants investigations or of the community survey.
The Feasibility and Business Case was an outcome of the earlier Aquatics Strategy. Council adopted the Strategy in April 2022 and recognised the “need” for an indoor aquatics facility in Hepburn Shire.
According to Council documents, a draft of the Feasibility Study and Business Case was presented to a Councillor Briefing on December 12, 2023. At that time, additional engineering investigations of the existing pools was requested.
Engineering reports were presented to a Council Briefing in early August. A revised final Options and Feasibility Report by Solucio was presented at a Briefing in mid-August.
Delays have been partly a result of a hold on the project to undertake the further engineering investigations of the existing pools. Other delays have bee caused by resourcing issues when higher priority projects required staff attention.
The Shire three pools are in need of extensive engineering works. Even without public release of engineering reports, it is clear that the Daylesford pool suffers from extensive leaking as anyone at the bus stop in Bridport Street can observe.
The Daylesford Pool was leaking into Bridport Street for much of last summer. (Photo: Tim Bach)
Council has noted that transparent messaging on aquatics provision options will be required to manage community expectations and to build an understanding of Council’s capacity to deliver any proposed future aquatics facilities.
Council will consider the necessary next steps and build necessary resources into the budget for 2024/25.
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