Black Hill resident Leigh Cassidy emailed the council on Sunday to find out when the community engagement process regarding the future use of Binney Reserve in Black Hill would begin. 

Mr Cassidy’s email was in response to a council vote last Wednesday night to decommission the Black Hill pool.

A council officer responded to Mr Cassidy to say demolition of the pool site was expected in the coming days. 

“Works have commenced on the site to remove infrastructure and to start the preparation for the upcoming demolition expected to start in the coming days,” the officer said. 

But after The Courier contacted the City of  Ballarat, an email was sent to one of Mr Cassidy’s friends saying council was incorrect. 

“I just wish to confirm that the information you received suggesting that the pool was to be demolished in the next couple of days was incorrect,” another council officer said. 

“It should have referred to decommissioning in the next couple of days.”

Mr Cassidy said the initial email from the council led him to believe that the City of Ballarat had made a decision to demolish the pool well before the result of a council vote last Wednesday night.

He questioned how the council could have organised a demolition crew to remove the structure with less than a week’s notice. 

“What advance (notice) would they have given their own work guys to schedule in those works?” he said. 

“Council would have had from 9am on Thursday morning to speak with their staff.” 

City of Ballarat acting chief executive Neville Ivey said council had written to the resident to clarify the email. 

Mr Ivey said there would be further community consultation to determine the future use of the Binney Reserve in the coming months.