Readers following the stories on the proposed new pool for Cessnock may be asking why a 51-metre pool has been suggested.
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Cessnock Pool Users Group chairman Phil Murray said the 51-metre pool with a boom in the middle (instead of a standard 50-metre pool) would create more options for the facility.
The boom could divide the pool into two, allowing for squad training at one end and lap swimmers and recreational users at the other end.
It would allow Cessnock to host short-course competitions, and could be fixed to one end to make a FINA standard Olympic-sized pool for long-course competitions.
Mr. Murray said the Olympic-sized pool would meet the community’s needs.
“A 25-metre pool would be too crowded,” he said.
Regarding a location for the new aquatic centre, Mr. Murray said “it should be somewhere that offers potential for future development and dedicated parking”.
Cessnock City Council moved to include a 51-metre indoor pool as the preferred option when it adopted the draft aquatic needs analysis study at its September 3 meeting.
Council resolved in February 2013 to have a new aquatic centre for Cessnock “shovel-ready” by the 2016/17 budget.
