Bendigo East Swimming Pool 'too expensive' to remain open in winter

The pool has become too expensive to stay open as a gas-heated pool open all year, and it will close on Friday, April 12.

City of Greater Bendigo staff and the Bendigo East Swimming Pool committee have met several times over the past six months to find a way to keep the pool open.

"Options included lowering the temperature of the pool, therefore using less gas, and reducing the pool's operating hours, but such changes were deemed not to have enough impact on overall operating costs to remain open year-round," City of Greater Bendigo active and healthy communities manager Amy Johnston said.

"The pool will transition to operating seasonally and open during the warmer months, similar to other seasonal pools across Greater Bendigo."

It was intended to keep the pool heated during the summer season, however the 2024/25 summer season would be determined by what is affordable.

A community effort to keep the pool open year round, led by Maldon's Claire Cooper and supported by Olympian Jenna Strauch, garnered the support of hundreds.

Ms Cooper said people preferred the pool as it was shallow enough to allow older swimmers to walk the whole length.

Committee president Troy Allan said the volunteer committee could not afford to continue to operate the heated, outdoor pool year-round within the current budget.

"The overall costs to run an outdoor heated pool have risen significantly over the past few years," he said.

The city provided about $167,000 to the committee to operate the pool year-round.

The committee also received an income through lane hire, venue hire for swimming carnivals, season passes and year-round memberships, kiosk sales and general admission.

An additional, one-off payment, over and above annual financial support, was provided by the city to the committee in late 2023 to assist with rising utility costs.

The Bendigo East Swimming Club will relocate to Gurri Wanyarra Wellbeing Centre for winter training, Mr Allen said, and the committee would work with other regular users to find alternative local winter training locations.

"The City of Greater Bendigo Active and Healthy Communities team has expressed a willingness to help assist our lifeguards to find alternative work with other providers during the winter months," Mr Allen said.

"Those patrons who have Bendigo East Swimming Pool extended season passes can use the final month of their pass at the Faith Leech Aquatic Centre or make contact if they wish to receive a pro rata refund.

"We encourage all our regular patrons to sign up to our Facebook page or to put their contact details on the list at the pool so that we can inform them about summer season passes before we open again later in the year."

It was still the city's plan to turn the Bendigo East pool to a non-heated, seasonal pool once a development at Brennan Park pool was complete.

The city's Community Aquatic Facilities Strategy outlined an expectation for the Bendigo East Pool Committee to manage Brennan Park pool year-round on behalf of the community.

There will be a call for a new committee to form at Bendigo East, however if a new committee cannot be formed, then the Bendigo East pool will close.

The Brennan Park redevelopment is subject to funding and is expected to be completed by 2028.