Gunnedah's outdoor pool will open a month early as part of a new trial.
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Gunnedah shire's councillors voted in favour of opening the outdoor facilities on October 5 at last week's meeting, with the results to decide the opening dates of future summer seasons.
The decision was prompted by written requests from community members over the years and increasing predictions of a hot summer.
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At the meeting, Cr Owen Hasler said the council had already spent "in excess of $13 million" on the pool and questioned if there had been enough formal requests to justify spending $40,017.35 to open it early.
Infrastructure services director Jeremy Bartlett said he knew of three written requests received at council since the pool had reopened in December.
"I am aware that the pool in the late 1990s did have a go at opening earlier and the visitation at that time did not make it viable. However, we don't have any recent data to support a position either way - whether we should or we shouldn't - and that's the intent of this budget allocation, to provide us the opportunity to get data to support a position to continue opening it early or leave the opening as it has been in more recent years," he said.
Related story: Call for council to take over pool cafe in summer season
Cr Rob Hooke said he strongly supported the trial, despite the associated costs.
"I do know that there's a risk associated with this, and it's a considerable amount of money, however, I do know there are a number of people in the community that have been championing this cause for it to be open a month earlier, and ... we've been told today by the Rural Fire Service that they expect hotter than average hotter conditions in October, [so] I think we may find it will actually work on our behalf," he said.
Mayor Jamie Chaffey is urging locals to head along to the pool when it opens if they would like it to open early every year.
"We will need to see that people are taking full advantage of this longer outdoor swimming season," he said.
At the end of the summer season, councillors will weigh up whether it is worthwhile to make it a permanent change.
