A LACK of pool facilities is costing Bacchus Marsh schools and the Moorabool economy more than $70,000 a year, a new report reveals.
The Bacchus Marsh Community Consortium study shows Bacchus Marsh Grammar spends about $50,000 a year taking its students to the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
The report, which gathered feedback on council’s proposed two-storey, $26 million facility over a two-month period, found only one Bacchus Marsh school was using the existing Grant Street pool for swimming, and for only one day each year.
“Significant revenue is lost to the town,” the report said. It found one school spent $308 in bus hire to take 50 children to a Melton pool, while Darley Primary School stopped bussing children to Bacchus Marsh’s Paul Sadler Swim Centre due to spiralling costs.
“The cost of bus hire to take students – all grade levels, total enrolment – to an aquatic centre is significant,” the report said.
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St Bernards Primary School principal Emilio Scalzo said it was “a bit tragic” that swimming programs had been stopped by some schools due to transport and qualification costs. “It’s had a counter effect,” he said. “A lot of parents are hoping the new pool is kept as an indoor pool [in council’s plans].” Coimadai Primary School also dropped its swimming programs due to the expense.
The report found 90 per cent of the 221 survey respondents said the new centre “must have” a 25-metre pool; 75 per cent called for a toddlers’ pool; and 50 per cent wanted a hydrotherapy pool.
The report also revealed residents were alarmed traffic problems could worsen on Grant Street.
It said there was “no great anxiety” in the community about the council charging a levy to fund the pool’s construction — “costed at about a cup of coffee per week”. But residents wanted it listed separately on rate notices with a clear timeline.
The report will be presented to council tomorrow night. Council will release its own report on community feedback to its pool plans in June.
