City of Marion council to consult over proposed seaside tidal pool at Hallett Cove

Keen southern swimmers may soon have designs – and an exact location – for the long awaited, seaside tidal pool at Hallett Cove.

Keen southern swimmers may soon have designs – and an exact location – for the long awaited, seaside tidal pool at Hallett Cove.

In a near hour long discussion at Tuesday night’s meeting Marion council adopted a $35,000 consultation on the costs, design and confirming the location for the pool.

But councillor Ian Crossland said many areas of the project are still a grey area for staff, and wanted to provide the area with the right information going forward.

If approved, Hallett Cove could have it’s very own seaside tidal pool, similar to Bondi’s. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

“At the moment the only information we have is a rough idea of if it is feasible to put a pool there, rough idea of costs and a rough idea of location,” he said.

“When I speak to residents they ask what it looks like and if I can show them the design and I have to tell them I don’t have one.

“I don’t have an exact location or height and I would like the community to be brought along in those discussion in whether we need an Olympic size pool or a wading pool.”

Cr Crossland also raised the issue of if the pool is small, the expansion of the local carpark would become obsolete.

The project has been on the cards since 2018 but has never garnered financial backing from the state government.

The Edithburgh tidal pool on the Yorke Peninsula tidal. Picture: File

The pool – which would be located at Heron Way Reserve – would be just the second of its kind in South Australia and the first in metropolitan Adelaide.

South Australia’s only mainland sea pool is located at Edithburgh on the Yorke Peninsula and was built in the 1930s.

There is another at Kingscote on Kangaroo Island.

The recommendation was adopted to part fund a concept plan and community consultation program for the outdoor pool, with an allocation of up to $35,000 from savings identified

through the 2021/22 first budget review.

Marion council will seek to apply for funding from the state government’s Coast Protection Fund for the remaining project costs.

Local MP and Environment Minister David Speirs said while the idea was “incredibly popular” it was early days for the project.

“As the local MP, I am incredibly interested by this project, it would certainly transform Hallett Cove in a very positive way and turn it into a unique destination but I also want to be assured that it could be done in an environmentally sensitive way,” Minister Speirs said.

“There’s no doubt that this project has captured the imagination of the local community and my recent survey, which garnered a record 2,000 responses, shows that over 90 year per cent of respondents support investigations being progressed.

As a result I obviously support the council continuing to move forward with this project.”