Parkes Shire Council is to investigate the possibility of extending the night-time opening hours of the public pool to 9pm for special events such as the Elvis Festival and Australia Day.
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At the same time Council is likely to trial opening the pool for the whole day during the summer school holidays from 6am to 8pm and look at moving the mid-season Swimming Club time trials to the later 7pm start on Friday evenings.
It is all part of Council’s approach of making the multi-million dollar pool facility more available to the community during the height of summer.
Council will also look at extending the opening period of all village pools to take into account the extra 'heat' week of school holidays granted to Peak Hill, Trundle and Tullamore.
And in another recommendation, the result of the most recent meeting of the Parkes Pool Management Committee, Council will look at reducing the cost of hiring a lane at the pool at a similar rate to that of other pools within the region.
The management committee consists of representatives of Council, Swimming Club, Learn to Swim instructors, Aqua Aerobics, Flippers, College for Seniors and each of the schools.
Meetings are held prior to the start of each pool season where considerations of pool bookings for both groups and individuals are dealt with.
Deputy Mayor Cr Alan Ward who chairs the committee, congratulated council staff for the huge job put into facilitating this year’s meeting.
“More than 20 representatives of various groups and organisation attended the meeting where a couple of points of interest evolved such as the extended night-time opening hours,” Cr Ward said.
Cr Belinda McCorkell, who along with Mayor Ken Keith and Cr Patrica Smith also form council’s representation on the committee, said she had received several requests from local residents for the Swimming Club to move their Friday night time trials to another night.
“Many people complain that the weekend should be free for families to attend the pool, especially on a Friday night to unwind after a busy week at work.”
- Cr Belinda McCorkell.
“Other towns in the region including Forbes and Cowra have moved their Swimming Club time trials from a Friday and maybe Council should look at this too.
“We need to consult with ratepayers as to what their thoughts are; After-all they are stakeholders too.”
The 2014/15 swim season officially commences in Parkes this Saturday, with the turnstiles to start clicking over at 10am.
For the first week the pool will shut at 6pm but extend to 7pm once Daylight Savings starts on Sunday, October 5.
A successful application from the Parkes Swimming Club will see them play host to the 2015 Mountains and Plains Summer Swimming Championships.
the titles will take place during Saturday and Sunday, February 7 and 8.
Council provided a letter of support to the club with the application.
The Mountains and Plains area encompasses Glenbrook in the east to Condobolin in the West.
It has been 10 years since a carnival of this magnitude has been held in Parkes.
In recent years the championships have been hosted by Lithgow, Orange and Bathurst.
More than 300 competitors from across the region will take part in the championships.