Coronavius: North Sydney Pool closes, jobs lost

There’s anger at the closure of one of Sydney’s most popular pools which has left staff jobless and swim clubs without a home.

North Sydney Olympic Pool is set to remain closed until 2022.

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North Sydney Council has closed one of the city’s historic pools and laid off permanent staff as COVID-19 continues to spread.

A petition has been launched by regular users of North Sydney Olympic Pool opposing the council’s move to indefinitely shut the facility and offer redundancy packages to lifeguards, pool managers and other full-time employees.

In an email to residents on Tuesday, the council said the closure was based on Federal Government health restrictions on pools, gyms and community centres aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.

The pool was closed to the public on March 25.

The pool is also slated for a $57.9 million redevelopment, proposed to begin in September, meaning the aquatic centre and Lane 9 gym at the site is not expected to reopen until 2022.

The council said redundancy packages were offered after alterative options to temporarily stand down employees were deemed “inappropriate”.

“The (government’s) advice is to expect these (health) measures to be in place for at least six months,” the council said.

A concept plan of the redevelopment.

“It seemed inappropriate to stand staff down with the expectation that they would return to their role when we knew the pool redevelopment would commence in spring.

“Permanent staff have therefore been offered redundancies or redeployment within council (and) at this stage redeployment options have been identified for more than half of the staff.”

Documents released by the council show the aquatic centre employs 25.5 equivalent full time staff, while the Ripples cafe at the site employs up to 12.

A council spokeswoman said casual staff employed in the last six months have been offered a small ex gratia payment linked to their working hours.

A concept design of the redevelopment

A petition signed by 520 people has called for the pool to reopen once the government’s health restrictions lift with residents noting the development has yet to be approved by the Sydney North Planning Panel.

“Everyone should be able to experience the pool one last time before it is closed for good. We will all need to de-stress when this corona war is over,” supporters of the petition said.

North Sydney Amateur Swim Club co-ordinator Lawrence Powderly said the closure has left members scrambling to find long-term alternative locations for classes.

Lawrence Powderly (l), pictured with swim club members, said the closure came without notice.

“We were hoping once the (coronavirus) situation was over the pool would reopen until the renovations start – it would have given us time to find somewhere else to go,” he said.

“We have members from six years of age all the way up to 76 and at this point it’s looking like we may have to fold if we can’t find another site.”

North Sydney Mayor Jilly Gibson said the decision to bring forward the closure would ensure the health and wellbeing of pool users.

She said the redevelopment would also address structural woes at the facility including corrosion in the grandstand and leaks in the 50m pool.

“We always planned to begin works in September and the planning process is still on track,” she said.

“We hardly knew that coronavirus would come along in the meantime.”

The council said it was “confident” the redevelopment plans would be determined by the planning panel in May with tenders expected to be awarded in August.

The council spokeswoman said staff were working through processes to refund pool users for unused portions of their memberships or subscriptions.

The council said any staff member who elected to take a redeployment option would retain their right for a redundancy within three months.