Proserpine Swimming Pool to close during demolition works

Residents petitioned to keep the Proserpine pool open but here is why the council has stood firm in its decision.

As well as being home to the Whitsunday Swimming Club and the Whitsunday Warriors – Masters, Proserpine Swimming Pool is popular with families such as Nyla, Ra, Hunter, Lauren and Koa Nackie of Cannon Valley. File photo

Proserpine swimmers will have to find somewhere else to practice as the council locks the gates to the town’s pool for several months.

Proserpine Swimming Pool will close to the public from June 15 to mid August to allow for the safe demolition of a kiosk building containing asbestos.

The demolition and reconstruction of the kiosk is expected to take four months, but a council spokesman said public access would “be possible during the final two months of work”.

Whitsunday Regional Council’s community services director Julie Wright said the council was working to minimise the length of disruption to swimming activities.

Ms Wright, responding to a petition tabled at the May 26 council meeting in Collinsville, said the closure would only be a temporary closure in the interest of public safety.

“We cannot have the public in and around that building while the demolition’s being carried out,” she said.

Deputy Mayor Mike Brunker acknowledged the “passion” of the petition’s 39 signatories but said pool closures each winter were a “cold hard reality” of council’s ongoing maintenance of the public facilities.

Cr John Collins said the Proserpine pool’s long-term lack of working water heaters had already forced some swimmers to seek other practice locations, which had caused “chaos” at local beaches “particularly for some of the elderly folks”.

Mayor Andrew Willcox said the council would aim to fix the heating and other issues during the closure.