Facing a loss of community, Glenthompson locals push to re-open previously shut down pool

In a town that has already lost its school, hotel and most of its shops, Glenthompson residents say the closure of their swimming pool last year stripped away the last space where kids could feel part of their community. 

Now, locals have devised a plan to reopen the pool.

At last Tuesday’s Southern Grampians Shire Council meeting, Glenthompson residents Ian Murray and Todd Berger presented a draft management plan crafted by the pool committee for reopening the site under a shared model of responsibility.

Murray told councillors the facility had seen patronage rise nearly 50 per cent in the pool’s final year. 

He argued that the use of “purely economic rationale” to close the pool had “grossly undervalued the benefits the pool brings to the Glenthompson community”.

When the council voted in favour of closing the pool in April 2024, previous mayor David Robertson said the cost per visit of the facility was too high.

According to a previous council report, the Glenthompson pool had 602 visitors over 48 days of operation over the 2022-23 season.

In the 2023-24 season, the number of visitors rose to 949 over 66 days of operation.

While this lowered the cost per visit to $65.25 according to the report, Robertson said Glenthompson’s cost was “still the highest of all the shire’s outdoor pools and significantly above the statewide average for equivalent sized rural council pools of $17.50”. 

Berger said the draft management plan would see locals run day-to-day operations, including rostering lifeguards and volunteers, while council would retain ownership and maintenance duties, as well as pay lifeguard wages. 

The plan also proposed a 12-month pilot period, where volunteers would operate the pool under the guidance of council staff. 

At the end of the year, volunteers and council staff would host a review to reassess the pool’s long term viability. 

“All those points of contact that I really got to know my community with growing up are now gone,” Berger said. “If we lose the pool, we lose that last little bit where we can have our kids feel that sense of being a part of a village.”

The Glenthompson community association unanimously backed the reopening at a recent forum, and both Murray and Berger noted ongoing “positive” talks with council staff and CEO Tony Doyle.

A motion by Councillor Katrina Rainsford to reallocate $120,000 in unspent 2024-25 budget funds towards the pool was not debated as no councillor seconded the motion.