After decades of community campaigning, the Byron Shire is finally going to have a public swimming pool that is heated and open all year round.
Byron Shire Council has announced that Mullumbimby’s Memorial Petria Thomas Swimming Pool will be heated in time for next winter, with an extra $250,000 allocated to the pool’s operating budget.
‘This is a game-changer for our community – something I, and many others, have been lobbying for,’ Byron Shire Mayor, Sarah Ndiaye, said in announcing the move last week.
‘Keeping the pool open year-round means children and schools can continue their swimming lessons and adults can stay active through the cooler months without interruption’.
For as long as the Byron Shire has had public pools, local swimmers and those wanting to learn to swim have faced an annual four-month closure from May to August.
Multiple petitions
Multiple petitions and public meetings calling for at least one of the pools to be heated have been held over the years, only for Council to prioritise other projects.
Last week, Council finally awarded the tender for the installation of solar heating and allocated the additional funding to pay for staffing, power, and other costs to keep the pool open.
Cr Ndiaye said that the heating project was a step toward improving swimming facilities in the Byron Shire more broadly.
Council recently passed an aquatic centre strategy that would also see a major upgrade of the Byron Bay War Memorial Swimming Pool, and the eventual possible relocation of the Mullum facility to a vacant greenfield site next to the Mullumbimby Skate Park.
But with Council’s coffers in a near-permanent state of undernourishment, neither of these larger projects will be completed any time soon, meaning that the Petria Thomas pool is likely to be the only heated pool available for at least two years.
The mayor acknowledged that significant grant funding was still needed to deliver the Byron Bay pool project, but that preliminary work would begin next year.
‘We will start by relocating the entrance to the pool and making temporary improvements to the changing facilities and kiosk areas to allow for necessary electrical and plumbing work as the first step to the upgrade of the pool site,’ she said.
‘As I’ve said before, this heating project is our interim solution – it gives us the breathing space to plan the best, safest future for Mullumbimby’s aquatic facility if that is going to occur.’
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