Whanganui East Pool to remain open for at least another season

There will be another summer season at the Whanganui East Pool, but it won't be getting a proposed $2.1 million upgrade. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui East Pool will remain open for at least one more season but it will not get a $2.1 million upgrade.

Whanganui district councillors made the decision during deliberations on the council’s Long-Term Plan (LTP) on Thursday after more than two hours of debate and two resolutions.

The majority of elected members voted in favour of a resolution proposed by Deputy Mayor Helen Craig, which sought to keep the pool open for the 2024-25 summer season, maintain minimum maintenance and pool standards for that period and have a maintenance and operational budget of $300,000.

Craig, Mayor Andrew Tripe and councillors Charlie Anderson, Charlotte Melser, Josh Chandulal-Mackay, Jenny Duncan, Kate Joblin, Ross Fallen, Rob Vinsen and Philippa Baker-Hogan were in favour of all three.

Peter Oskam and Glenda Brown voted against and Michael Law abstained.

Most councillors also voted in favour of chief executive David Langford commissioning an options report to provide a long-term plan for outdoor swimming in Whanganui.

The report would require council funding of $40,000 and a completion date before the council’s next annual plan (2025-26).

Chandulal-Mackay, Duncan, Law and Oskam voted against commissioning the report.

Law and Oskam voted against a $2m capital expenditure budget in the 2025-26 financial year for the implementation of recommendations in the options report, but that also passed.

The decision adds 0.5 per cent to rates for 2024-25.

Councillors spoke with passion throughout deliberations, with Tripe saying there was “no best option”.

“Sometimes, decisions are really difficult to make.

“There are some that are black and white and some with a bit of grey in them. This is one of those.”

Tripe said the council had tried to be more transparent and open, and sometimes that came with criticism.

“I would love to see [the pool] open but, in 10 years’ time, what does that facility look like?

“What does swimming in our community look like in 10 years’ time? What does our community look like in 10 years’ time?

“That’s where my endgame is.”

Chandulal-Mackay said he was worried that removing the pool would detract from a suburb into which the council and community had put a lot of effort to revitalise over the past several years.

“We’ve got a lot of community services in the centre of town.

“The suburbs are not entirely neglected but they definitely are the poor cousin in terms of the services we provide out there.”

Law said it was “crazy” to consider shutting the pool and public submissions showed the community wanted to keep it.

During public consultation on the LTP, the public was given two options: close the pool or invest $2.1m in a full upgrade.

There were 1466 responses, with 509 wanting it closed, 703 in favour of upgrading it and 127 wanting another option.

Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe says there is “no best option” when it comes to the pool's future. Photo / Bevan Conley

“Our people have said ‘Keep the pool open, invest in it, spend the $2m’,” Law said.

“They’ve told you what they want and you haven’t listened.”

Brown said she grew up with the Fantasyland theme park in Hawke’s Bay.

It was closed, causing community uproar. “That was reimagined into Splash Planet, which today is another iconic theme park known all over New Zealand.

“When something goes, it gives the possibility of something better.

“It would be an investment into an old structure, not a new structure.”

Anderson said the pool leaked but the structure was still there – “just like any old building”.

“There are plenty of modern products that can line and seal it to brand new.

“It needs a new filtration system, replace the swim club steps as well, and that’s all in my opinion.”

Before the vote on Craig’s motion, a motion proposed by Chandulal-Mackay was lost.

He recommended the pool remain open and $2.1m be allocated for future upgrades, subject to a satisfactory business case.

That was lost 7-6, with Vinsen, Fallen, Brown, Tripe, Oskam, Baker-Hogan and Craig voting against it.

Because Craig’s motion passed, a motion from Law lapsed.

On Wednesday, council officers recommended closing the pool and not completing a feasibility study for outdoor swimming.

Oskam suggested going back to the community for more feedback.

“We only gave them the option to close it or open it and there is a whole raft of innovative, new things we could do there for the Whanganui East, Aramoho and Central district communities.

“Let’s save our money against getting another report, another adviser. Let’s just go there and ask what they would like.”

Duncan said members of the business community might be prepared to support council projects or to sponsor them.

“Everything doesn’t need to be ratepayer-funded, that’s not how things were done in the past and it’s certainly not how Whanganui was built.

“It was built by community groups or business owners. We need to go back to thinking like that.

“We need to go to our business community, in particular, and say ‘What are you prepared to do? Sponsor a part of the pool? Or participate in the rebuild of part of the pool?’”

The council strongly opposed centralisation to Wellington, he said, but it would be doing the same thing by having only one swimming option – the Splash Centre in Whanganui Central.

“We are growing communities, not the centre of town.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.