Port Hedland Council votes to reduce pool operations to fund new aquatic centre

The Town of Port Hedland has agreed to reduce services at its ageing Gratwick and South Hedland pools for the next three years to help fund the building of a new aquatic facility.

With a new aquatic centre planned as part of the next stage of the Wanangkura Stadium upgrades, the move will see the South Hedland Aquatic Centre open between April and September, while the Gratwick Aquatic Centre will open between October and March.

The Council estimates that reducing the existing two pools’ opening months will save it $2.4 million in repair costs and $500,0000 a year in operating costs.

The South Hedland Aquatic Centre has been closed since September last year after water quality at the facility failed to meet mandatory regulatory standards.

While initial estimates to repair and upgrade the facility’s plant were budgeted at $1.7 million, tenders for the job came back with costs between $2.8 and $2.9 million, with a modified design only allowing the cost to be brought down to an estimate $2.4 million, prompting a rethink of the repair proposals.

The new plan would, according to Council staff, allow the local authority to save enough money on running and repair costs over the next three years to help produce plans for and build a brand new facility next to Wanangkura Stadium as part of a review of the master plan for the South Hedland Sports Precinct.

In an agenda item presented at a Council meeting, officers say that to maintain and upgrade the existing two pools over the next 20 years would cost $14.84 million, all of which would have to come from the Town’s coffers, whereas a new facility could be built using grant funding.

Town of Port Hedland Mayor Camilo Blanco said it was “time to stop throwing good money after bad” when it came to the pools.

“Originally the pool was going to cost us between $1.5 and $1.7 million to repair, that price has blown out (and) it looks like it could be around $3 to $5 million to get it to a stage where it may stay open for the full 12 months of the year,” he said.

“Considering the pool is 50-plus years old ... if we spend that sort of money on an ageing facility, at the end of the day we’ve still got an old facility.

“Clearly, closing down our old facilities, that cost us an arm and a leg, to invest in our new infrastructure will create operational savings into the future.”

Image: South Hedland Aquatic Centre.

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