By Mario Xuereb
THEdebate over pools in Sunshine shows no sign of abating.
Pool campaigners accused Brimbank City Council last week of “backflipping” on a plan for a second stage development of Sunshine Pool.
Brimbank mayor Natalie Suleyman rejected the suggestion council had reneged on any of its commitments.
Meanwhile, a newly-formed group of mothers met last week to discuss the lack of recreational facilities for children and teenagers in the West.
The mothers accused the council of reneging on a commitment to ask for government funding to build an outdoor 50-metre pool.
Darlene Reilly, of the Sunshine Residents and Ratepayers Association, wrote in a statement that no such funding application was in the works, nor would be in the foreseeable future.
“Brimbank council has misled this community for far too long,” Ms Reilly stated.
“First we were promised council would fix the pools, next we were promised a new pool centre on other council land, until they sold that land and promised again to renovate the old pool centre.
“After waiting 14 years we are again being fed half truths, blatant lies and false and misleading statements.”
Mayor Natalie Suleyman, in a statement released last week, said a second-stage development had not been ruled out.
“The redevelopment plans preserve outdoor space for a future stage two development.
“However, it would be irresponsible for council to commit time and resources at this point to detailed planning of stage two when we are only just starting stage one,” Cr Suleyman stated.
“Once the redeveloped centre has been completed and opened, council will closely monitor operations and use that information to assess the need for further work.”
Cr Suleyman said she was committed to an assessment of the centre by 2008.
At a heated council meeting last month, Brimbank councillors said they would work towards getting a 100 per cent contribution from the State Government towards funding any future development of the centre in the next three to five years.
