By Mikayla van Loon
Kilsyth residents have been left “shattered” and “terribly disappointed” after a decision to close the beloved but dilapidated Centenary Pool permanently.
Yarra Ranges Councillors voted to decommission the pool at the Tuesday 24 October meeting which was met with an outcry of anger from residents and pool users in the gallery.
The Hawthory Road pool, known for its inflated dome, has been closed since March after an assessment of the structure found it to be unsafe and at risk of collapse.
Over the seven months of closure, it has forced regular users of the pool to relocate, including the Lilydale Swim Club whose home base was the Kilsyth pool.
Club president Andrew Lynch said “it has affected us” in terms of membership, access to lanes and keeping a high standard of training for its swimmers.
“We were running at about 75 members when we had Kilsyth pool and now we’re down to about 45. We’ve managed to find different homes and different pools we can use to swim. I guess the proximity of those pools relative to what people had originally has really been affected,” he said.
“So going from 75 members down to 45, obviously, affects us financially and puts a strain on the club in that way.”
Mr Lynch said some of the club’s state and high achieving swimmers weren’t getting the appropriate lane time to cater to their standard of swimming.
“We were able to meet most of the demands from the swimmers by utilising the Boronia pool and the Yarra Centre, even hiring some lanes at a private pool to try to fulfil all those time schedules that we had originally because we were swimming six mornings and four nights a week so to fill all those time slots in other pools was pretty hard.”
For the Kilsyth aqua aerobics group, which has a membership of 58 women, it has left them “absolutely shattered” to hear of the decision.
Montrose resident and user of the pool for 20 years, Chris Dowling, said she is grateful to Councillor Andrew Fullagar for putting forward the alternate recommendation to keep the land as open space but is somewhat baffled by the decision still, knowing what a great loss it will be.
“Once open spaces are gone, they’re gone and Kilsyth is full of housing, there’s not a single block left,” she said.
“We all knew about the problems with the Kilsyth Centenary Pool but I just wonder how long it’s been on the council’s mind to build a Lilydale pool.”
Ms Dowling said there would be times herself and the aerobics group would turn up to the pool to find the heating wasn’t working or other issues but nothing much ever seemed to be done for long term fixes.
For the aqua aerobics group, Ms Dowling said for a handful of the members they have transitioned into attending classes at Monbulk or Croydon but for the majority, it hasn’t been possible.
“It’s a 25 minute drive to Monbulk and 20 kilometres each way, that’s a 40 kilometre round trip,” she said.
“Many of the women are in their 80s and 90s and most of the ladies in the group can’t afford the petrol cost or can drive that far.”
Even being able to access the group classes elsewhere has had its challenges, with Ms Dowling saying “unless you book early, you have no hope”.
“We haven’t had any help from Belgravia or the council to access other classes and I feel guilty about taking another person’s spot.
“A very small portion of the 58 members have been accommodated elsewhere. The social impact has been huge and it has been bad physically.”
Mr Lynch said “we’re all devastated the Kilsyth Pool is closing” and he would have liked to have had both available to the club’s swimmers “but obviously, I can’t have both”.
The lack of a home training base, Mr Lynch said, will have the biggest impact on those coming through the club
“The current people that are highly involved in the Lilydale Swim Club at the moment, by the time a pool comes along, those children will already be grown up and out of the club.
“They’re probably the ones that are taking it the hardest, the one’s whose children are probably not even going to be in the club when the new one opens.
“The club’s been around for a long time so it’s a matter of looking at the long term sustainability of the club.”
With no land or fund currently available in Lilydale to build a new aquatics centre, Ms Dowling said she doesn’t think “we’ll see anything in the next 10 years”.
Passionate Kilsyth resident John Phillips spoke at the council meeting in objection to the proposal to close the facility permanently and reiterated the calls from the community, as well as previous councillors, to upgrade the pool’s infrastructure.
“Seven years ago in a newspaper story on the complex way back on 28th of May 2016 Lilydale Swim Club head coach Ben Craven was calling for an urgent upgrade of the building and said ‘being able to train in a 50 metre pool was fantastic in terms of being the lifeblood of our club’,” Mr Phillips said.
“In the same article, then Councillor Andrew Witlox said he and several councillors would love a redevelopment of the pool.”
Despite hoping to delay the decision to understand what the community’s wants, needs and desires were for the Kilsyth Pool, Mr Phillips said he understood the decision.
“The decision was probably not a bad one and for it to be left as open space, that’s a positive,” he said.
“At least the public will be asked what they would like to see happen with the site.
“There is a need for housing but I think our area has provided well for that already.”
Also positive about what a new facility could do for the Lilydale Swim Club in the long term, Mr Lynch said it is probably the best strategy.
“I think long term for the swimmers in the area, having something grander than what the Kilsyth Pool is, is probably a better strategy,” he said.
“We just, as a club have to be confident we can get our members through the next, let’s say, four or five years.”
