Reduced opening hours at the Brown Hill Swimming Pool are not linked to job changes at the Ballarat Aquatic and Life Centre, the City of Ballarat says.
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Local swimmers and residents say the pool has been "closed on more days than it has been open" this year, which is "particularly infuriating on very hot summer days."
Members of the Brown Hill Progress Association argue the pool was open and available to the community each day during summer under their management. The volunteer association, which previously ran the pool since 2006 after a reprieve from closure in 2003, handed control back to the City of Ballarat for the 2020-21 swimming season.
Increasing compliance regulations were a burden on the group, it was becoming harder to keep track of safety legislation, and public liability insurance was rising, BHPA secretary Brendan Stevens told The Courier in August last year.
In response to questions about the pool, the City of Ballarat said it required extensive maintenance to ensure public safety. Due to a shortage of contractors during COVID, the opening was delayed until January 1, 2021.
"The Brown Hill Progress Association was informed prior to the handover that the pool would operate to Council's cold weather policy," the City of Ballarat said.
"Outdoor pools (except for the heated Eureka Pool) do not open when forecast temperatures are less than 23 degrees. Ballarat's summer so far has not been very warm!
"The change to operating hours over the Australia Day long weekend was due to a shortage of lifeguards - a statewide issue acknowledged by Lifesaving Victoria and affecting many Victorian Council-run facilities. Available resources were reallocated so that the majority of Council's outdoor pools could operate safely over a busy hot weekend."
Proposed restructures at the BALC did not involve positions required to operate the Brown Hill Pool, the City of Ballarat said.
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