Draft Open Space & Recreation Strategic Plan

Council does recognize that climate change is occurring and that the planet is steadily warming.

A hoist can be used to assist a person in a wheelchair into the water. The hoist can be stopped at a suitable point to allow the person to swim out of the chair or for a carer to assist the person out of the chair. If the person is a non-swimmer or needs support in the water it is common for a lifejacket to be worn and for the carer to be in the water to support the person.

Please see the FAQ: How do our aquatic centres and pools cater for people with a disability? which outline which facilities currently meet disability standards.

Blue Mountains City Council pools implement the Royal Lifesaving Society Keep Watch at Public Pool Guidelines. These guidelines do require a parent/guardian to be in the water with arms reach of children 5 years and younger and non-swimmers. For children 6-10 years constant active parental supervision is required.

Parents would be encouraged to be in the water with their weak or non-swimming children in the 25m pool.

The report produced by the Royal Life Saving Society estimates the value to health provided by 60 minutes of vigorous physical activity such as lap swimming or 120 minutes of low intensity exercise such as snorkeling. There is an extensive body of research into health benefits from physical activity.

Council's Draft Plan recognizes the economic, and health and social benefits provided by an active lifestyle, and proposes to continue investment in a wide range of facilities to support and encourage all members of our community participate in the activities they prefer. The facilities which would provide these health benefits include swimming pools as well as playing fields and courts, skateparks, and tracks and trails.

The section this question refers to states explicitly:

Category 2

(where gross operating turnover is less than $2 million and/or the business activity is not intended to make a profit)

a. Aquatics

Council’s Aquatic Centres (a community service not intended to make a profit)

vs.

Category 1

(where gross operating turnover is over $2 million)

As Aquatic Centres DO NOT MAKE A PROFIT, isn’t it self-explanatory that Aquatics is listed under Category 2?

Operating income of over $4M is facing Operating expenses of over $7M and the overall service (including Capital expenditure) is subsidised by the General Fund  by $3.4M in 2016/17 (as stated on page 3).

Please refer to the Special Purpose Financial Statements’ Background sections (page 1), which states:

Background

These Special Purpose Financial Statements have been prepared for the use by both Council and the Office of Local Government in fulfilling their requirements under National Competition Policy.

The principle of competitive neutrality is based on the concept of a ‘level playing field’ between persons/entities competing in a market place, particularly between private and public sector competitors.

Essentially, the principle is that government businesses, whether Commonwealth, state or local, should operate without net competitive advantages over other businesses as a result of their public ownership.

For Council, the principle of competitive neutrality and public reporting applies only to declared business activities.

These include (a) those activities classified by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as business activities being water supply, sewerage services, abattoirs, gas production and reticulation, and (b) those activities with a turnover of more than $2 million that Council has formally declared as a business activity (defined as Category 1 activities).

In preparing these financial statements for Council’s self-classified Category 1 businesses and ABS-defined activities, councils must (a) adopt a corporatisation model and (b) apply full cost attribution including tax-equivalent regime payments and debt guarantee fees (where the business benefits from Council's borrowing position by comparison with commercial rates).

Hypothetically, if Aquatic Centres were classified as Category 1, they would need to :

• be a completely separate corporate entity

• be a fully self-funded unit, i.e. operate under full cost-recovery

• charge entry fees to reach break-even (market prices)

• show their full operations in a different way of presenting Financial Statements

and they could not be subsidised by the General Fund.

Currently entry fees are heavily subsidised by the general ratepayer.

Visitation January 2018

Please see below the total visitation on each day at each centre during January to date. This is a record of total visitors during the operating hours. The operating hours at each site does vary, the pools operate between 9hrs -14hrs each day.

The maximum recorded people in the water at any one time on Sunday 7^th January 2018

Blackheath - 145 people in the water across all pools at 4:00pm

Katoomba -   149 people in the water across all pools at 4:00pm

Lawson -       179 people in the water across all pools at 4:00pm

Receipt of submissions close by 5pm on Monday 15th January 2018.

The safe capacity is calculated at Blackheath acknowledging the varying depths of water we have in our 25m pool.

We calculate

12.5m x 15m as greater than 1.5m deep  (Based on 4m2) 46 people and

12.5m x 15m as less than 1.5m deep (Based on 2.7m2) 69 people

Total capacity = 115 people

Reaching capacity at Blackheath pool is rare however our maximum recorded people in the water this season was recorded on Sunday 7^th January when 145 people were recorded as in the water at 4pm. Management strategies to manage capacity would implemented as required at these times

As answered in previous question Council follows these guidelines and monitors swimmer number in our pools to ensure compliance with the guidelines, and to ensure adequate turnover of water to maintain water quality.

Council's insurers require Council to follow relevant legislation and guidelines. Council does follow relevant guidelines for NSW and staff monitor swimmer numbers in our pools to ensure safe swimming conditions are maintained. These numbers relate to people in the pool at any one time, and each centre and the overall grounds have a larger capacity.

See the guidelines and the swimmer capacity of each pool below:

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/Publications/swimming-pool-and-spa-advisory-doc.pdf

Swimmer Capacity in each pool where changes are proposed in the Draft Strategic Plan.