Epping Aquatic Leisure Centre redevelopment to begin in May 2024

It was once filled with a puddle of black water and on the brink of closure but a dilapidated public pool in Sydney’s northwest is about to undergo a $26 million makeover. See what it means.

A children’s play area is part of the new Epping Aquatic Centre.

Excited swimmers are making the most of their last summer at Epping Aquatic Centre before a long-anticipated $26m upgrade begins in May for the popular pool “among the tree tops”.

In December, Parramatta Council voted to lodge the development application for the project, which will include an indoor pool change room, a new grandstand, a revamped children’s play area, pool upgrades, fresh landscaping and improved accessibility for year-round swimming.

Hornsby Council was considering selling the pool before the 2016 amalgamations shifted it under Parramatta Council’s control.

Parramatta independent councillor Lorraine Wearne said without the efforts of the Save Epping Pool committee, the pool might not be usable.

“It looked like a cesspit. It had about 2 feet of water – if that – at the bottom of the pool, the water was black, it had furniture up-ended in the pool,’’ she said.

“The story that had been told for some years to people in the community was ‘it’s not possible to fix it, it’s unsafe, it’s going to slide down the hill’.’’

Epping Aquatic Centre’s upgrade will take 18 months to wrap up.

The project won’t be as “grand’’ as the original plans but will blend in with its bushland setting.

“Dence Park is the pool among the tree tops and we want to maintain that – we’re not seeking to rebuild PAC (Parramatta Aquatic Centre) or anything like that,’’ Labor councillor Cameron Maclean said.

“We’re seeking to rebuild a neighbourhood pool that caters for the community that lives down there. It doesn’t mean we’re bigger than Ben Hur but what is to be achieved here is not to be marginalised.

“The current pool, while a wonderful community asset, is sorely outdated and the accessibility doesn’t meet any kind of modern standard at all.’’

The indoor pool proposed for Epping Aquatic Centre.

The council will go out to tender and pursue funding opportunities to deliver three stages of the project.

Work will start after the swimming carnival season and is expected to take about 18 months to complete. During that time, the pool will be closed to the public.

The refurbishments are expected to give the 50m pool another 10 to 12 years of life.

Labor councillor and Parramatta MP Donna Davis said the pool would allow residents living in high density housing to escape the hustle and bustle.

“This is an idyllic location and one you have to experience and see to believe because it truly is an oasis in the heart of suburbia,’’ she said.

Originally published as Epping Aquatic Leisure Centre redevelopment to begin in May 2024