Dubbo Regional Council to look into local pool management

A flood of recent complaints is bringing the issue of the privatisation of three Central West pools back into the spotlight. Here’s the latest.

A councillor in the state’s central west has expressed concerns following the controversial handover of a local aquatic centre to a private company.

Ahead of Thursday night’s meeting, Dubbo Regional councillor Joshua Black has put forward a motion to seek advice following the challenges since privatising the Dubbo and Wellington Aquatic Centres and the Geurie Swimming Pool.

He told The Dubbo News he wanted advice regarding the Belgravia Leisure takeover to ensure the three pools in Dubbo, Wellington and Geurie “are properly available to the community”.

“I’m not saying it should be brought back in house or saying that the private management has not been up to scratch – it’s basically in response to community concerns that they feel like the pool was going better before the takeover,” Mr Black said.

“I want to get all the info and see what our options are.”

Mr Black said residents were “not happy” with recent pool management, communication with school and event carnivals, operative times and unhygienic facilities.

Dubbo Regional councillor Joshua Black. Picture: Ryan Young

“I think it’s important that we, as councillors, take those [concerns] seriously and we have a proper look at how things are going with the contract because a lot of the community don’t have pools at home and Dubbo is very hot,” he said.

Mr Black said a school booked the pool in December, however the slide had no water with children and staff having to bucket the water across for two hours for it to operate.

The Dubbo Aquatic Leisure Centre. Picture: Ryan Young

“That’s not the level of service people were getting when council was running the pool, so people are concerned,” he said.

A Belgravia Leisure spokesman said they were “disappointed” in the motion as they had done “everything in their power to manage” the facilities “despite a variety of difficult circumstances”.

“Belgravia Leisure faced an extremely tight turnaround to get the pools open for the season,” they said.

According to the spokesman, the company were given two weeks to get the sites ready to open after signing the management contract.

“Of the approximate 80 staff that were employed with council the previous season, three came across to us which meant we had to recruit, train, quality and on-board over 75 staff to ensure that we could safely open the pools, and this is in a challenging labour market,” they said.

Belgravia Leisure claim only three staff stayed during the management transition. Picture: Adam Taylor

“In this two-week period, we also had to commission the pools and undertake significant repairs to the plant room to ensure compliance with NSW Health.

“We are proud of what we have been able to achieve in the short time frame since transitioning into the Dubbo facilities.

“We acknowledge that there have been some hurdles to overcome including initial staff shortages and the plant room requiring significant work, however we are confident that there is a bright future ahead and we look forward to continuing to provide the community of Dubbo an enjoyable, inclusive and safe visit to our facilities.”

Got a news tip? Email [e-mail]