m

The Nowra Pool is situated in a very scenic area, on the banks of the Shoalhaven River. The Council thinks it is worth a lot of  money.

It is precisely because of this belief that the Council wants to sell the pool. The plan is to sell to a developer.

The Council is currently trying to reclassify the site of the Nowra Pool from "community land" to "operational", so that it can be sold. Unless it is so reclassified it is not theirs to sell. When it is they can do what they like with it - which means sell it. 

Without telling us Council have engaged a Canberra architect, at community expense, to develop a draft Development Control Plan (with the pool gone) and this plan is expected to go to Council by Nov 09 and then for public comment.

Hidden in this Development Control Plan, or DCP as it is known for short, will be the necessity for reclassifying the site. Hidden because the DCP will take in a great deal of ordinary privately owned land. No one knows how much outside the Council and they won't tell yet but probably the whole accessible riverbank.

What will the community get if the community goes along with the reclasification to operational?

1. Loss of the only pool in Nowra.
2. A sort of promise to build a leisure centre costing $35 million somewhere else.

At present the Council does not have the funds to build such a centre. And the promise is only that - a sort of promise. It is highly likely given the demands for money - and Council is already way way over budget and was forced to raise water rates by nearly 50% just to keep this facility going - that the sort of promise will not occur for a significant period of time, perhaps your lifetime - perhaps never. But in the mean time, Council want to close Nowra Pool ASAP, leaving no pool in Nowra.

The closure of Nowra Pool will certainly have implications for the local children that walk or ride to the pool, local user groups, as well as the significant number of schools that use the facility for school carnivals or school activities. All swimming and related activities will be diverted to Bomaderry, creating a bottle-neck and severely reduced water availability to the public. This could be the situation for many many years, with the added handicap that the nearest 50m pool is at Albion Park or Ulladulla.

Council have failed to advise the people of Nowra  that there is an affordable option to totally replace the Nowra Pool on its current site. Investigations have shown that the water leakage issues as reported in the local media are not true, and that a replacement pool and associated works is very affordable.

In other words the choice is between a refurbished, upgraded Nowra Pool costing at most $1.5 million  and  a sort of promise to build one for $35 million when funds are available.
In a time when fiscal restraint is needed, and exercise and a healthy lifestyle should be encouraged, the closure of Nowra Pool is not a sensible option, financially, socio-economically or from a community spirit point of view.

The Save Nowra Community Pool campaign aims to raise awareness in the community of the intentions of Council to reclassify the land and to close the pool completely. It also aims to show that the Nowra Pool is a great asset to the community for the health and wellbeing of citizens and that the pool must be upgraded. Make no mistake, once this community land has been reclassified, it will be taken from the community forever and it will be too late.

Please join in to save Nowra Pool. Please contact Shoalhaven councillors and let them know why we need to SAVE NOWRA COMMUNITY POOL.

Please register your interest through this website or email savencp@bigpond.com