At last week’s resumed meeting of the Waitemata Local Board the City Vision members, Alex Bonham, Richard Northey and Anahera Rawiri, helped secure the future of the Olympic Pools and Fitness Centre with a ten year extension for the pool operator.
Although Board members received an intense flurry of communications from Olympic Pool users worried that the facility might close, this was never a real possibility.
The issue arose because Council decided to conduct a major review of who should operate its pools and leisure centres across the region, with the staff recommending privatisation of them, despite the fact that it was the council-run pools that had the best net promoter scores. City Vision Members on Local Boards and Julie Fairey on the Governing Body took a lead role in successfully opposing this proposal, leaving the mix of operators much as before. The Newmarket Olympic Pool, leased to a popular private operator, had its lease extended until November this year pending a decision by the Waitemata Local Board on the nature of its future operation. The lease would roll over month by month until an agreement was reached, and it was communicated that six months notice would be given to terminate the lease if any decision was made to change the operator.
City Vision Local Board members have long been concerned that the Olympic Pool operator refused to apply the general Council policy of no charge for entry for children under 17 in spite of the lack of other youth facilities and the fact that a large number of young people come to the area for school in Newmarket. We therefore insisted that any extension of the lease must include a requirement for free entry for under 17 year olds and that the living wage must be paid to all staff. Two C and R Board members strenuously opposed this policy, but we managed to persuade the Chair to get it included in the Board’s resolutions.
The Waitemata Local Board’s resolution provides for a ten -year lease extension for the operator provided the Council and the Board can achieve a reasonable contribution from the operator for the cost of deferred capital works, possibly including seismic strengthening. All pools cost a lot to maintain and the Olympic is no exception so ensuring funding is fairly attributed between users and other Waitemata residents is important, particularly as most pool users come from outside the local board area. The next step is to work out a detailed programme of works to ensure that the pool can be enjoyed for decades to come.
We are pleased we have helped provide certainty and security for Newmarket Pool users.
Richard Northey and Alex Bonham at the Olympic Pools