By Jade Nacionales
RMIT Journalism
The funding agreement for the upgrade to the Williamstown Swimming and Life Saving Club does not include money to restore the club swimming pool.
Around $14.5 million of mainly state and council money has been allocated to upgrade the WSLSC. The original funding agreement said the funding would include both the redevelopment of the Clubhouse and the pool with $900,000 allocated to the ‘swimming pool build’.
However, the new agreement obtained by The Westsider under the FOI Act, reveals no public money will be directed towards upgrading the swimming pool.
The Williamstown Swimming and Life Saving Club donated $180,000 to the total budget ‘to be utilised to support the clubhouse and swimming pool redevelopment’.
The money provided by the club is the only money in the entire $14.5 million project budget nominally directed at the pool.
Despite the removal of the pool funding, the new agreement continues to justify the project largely on the grounds of ‘water safety education and swimming capability of Victorians’ and ‘the delivery of core aquatic safety services at this location’.
Among the listed expected benefits of the project is ‘a decrease in the risk of drowning […] by ensuring the delivery of the ‘Learn to Swim’ and other critical localised education programs through the adjacent swimming pool’.
School students and the local community—amongst others—receiving swimming lessons and education are the people most affected by this change.
