A NEW Pool IN Drysdale, servicing the North Bellarine

A new pool for Drysdale would:

• Service the population of the North Bellarine, which continues to grow, especially in the Drysdale Growth Area, the Jetty Road Growth Area and The Point estate at Point Lonsdale
• Service the area’s three pre-schools and six schools, with 5,000 students.1 (Currently, some students spend twice as long travelling to a pool as they spend in it!)
• Service the area’s three health centres and growing number of retirement villages
• Redress the current imbalance of aquatic facilities, which is in favour of Ocean Grove and against the North Bellarine
• Benefit Ocean Grove residents considerably by easing the growing pressure on their pool, thus improving the quality of their experiences when they go there.

Benefits of a NEW pool at Drysdale

• Reduced need for expensive, time-consuming and carbon-costly travel from the North Bellarine to other pools
• Complementing the National Disability Scheme by providing suitable pool access and hydrotherapy services for the injured, disabled and elderly
• Increased water familiarity and safety for young children
• Increased choice of sports at local schools
• Improved community health and well-being in an “engaged community” that undertakes social activity and active recreation
• Increasing the Bellarine Peninsula's attraction to tourists. (We believe that the Peninsula’s population increases by approximately 20,000 in summer.) 

DCSCA’s proposal
CoGG should allocate $40,000 for a ‘scoping study’ to investigate the case for a new pool in Drysdale. The study should be led by an appropriate independent expert, supported by CoGG officers; and should consult the local community, especially schools, senior citizen clubs and sports clubs. The cost will depend on the precise brief for the study and the level of COGG resources used.

 The study should determine:

• the need for the pool according to appropriate population modelling2
• the level of community support
• social and economic benefits
• the approximate capital and operating cost
• options for growth to match the increasing population.

The results of the study should inform:

• an item in the City of Greater Geelong budget
• a request to the State government (and possibly the Federal government) for financial support for each stage of the project.

A staged project
 
Stage 1: An Aquatic Centre for the North Bellarine
The Pool should be 'family friendly' and provide ramp access, lap swimming and a 'toddler area'; and it should have north facing sliding doors onto adjacent picnic area. The facility would include solar water heating and solar panels, contributing to sustainability and enhancing its surroundings. The study should consider including hydrotherapy in this stage.

Stage 2: A Wellness Centre, including a gym, spa and sauna
 
Stage 3 & 4: Waterslides, dive pool & competition pool.

NOTES

1. Drysdale Preschool, Clifton Springs Preschool and Beacon Point Preschool; Drysdale Primary School, Clifton Springs Primary School and St Thomas Catholic Primary School, Portarlington Primary School, Point Lonsdale Primary School, St Leonards Primary School, Queenscliff Primary School; St Ignatius College, Christian College, Bellarine Secondary College.

2. Parks and Leisure Australia* recommend a 25m pool for a population of 30,000 people. More than 35,000 people live in the proposed pool’s catchment area; in 5 years, this figure will rise to approximately 40,000.

*2012 http://www.parksleisure.com.au/documents/item/1280