Oakleigh Pool Talking Points
Skip to menuSome important ideas that need to be discussed with respect to the Council’s decision to close the pool:
- Decision made without community consultation.
- Decision made in contravention of community consultation charter passed within same Council meeting
- Oakleigh one of the very few facilities for teenagers in Oakleigh
- Oakleigh diving tower almost unique.
- Oakleigh is one of the very few summer facilities for children of all ages in the area. Does Monash really want to replicate some of the problems seen around Clayton in Oakleigh (paint sniffing etc.)
- Pools need to be easily accessible to the public they serve – the assumption that people can drive to another pool, e.g. Marc, is simply not valid for significant sections of the community. As petrol becomes an increasingly scarce and expensive commodity, this will become more and more the case.
- Many 50m pools have disappeared and are continuing to disappear – Glen Eira will almost certainly close either East Boundary or Caulfield; Clayton, Sushine, Footscray have gone. The community will fight to keep public assets.
- $10M quoted by Cr McGill gross exaggeration of the costs of keeping an aquatic facility at Oakleigh
- Council has spent little on Oakleigh for recreational facilities compared with Glen Waverley (Marc - $17M and already getting an overhaul, GW skateboard park, etc.).
- By retaining an aquatic facility, Council has a golden opportunity to turn around the drab and uninviting (and under-utilized) area of Park Rd and turn it into an exciting gateway to Oakleigh’s recreational facilities. This would involve linking all the recreational areas from Brickmaker’s Park (which has been allowed to degenerate to a very disappointing level) to Caloola Reserve (Drummond St.), Scotchman’s creek and the bicycle path, making this a central focus for Oakleigh’s citizens. (This in turn will ensure better revenues to Council and make the investment worth while).
