Mt Barker pool plans revealed as Shire of Plantagenet council gives green light to first stage of redevelopment

Shire of Plantagenet council has given the green light to the first stage of its Mt Barker swimming pool redevelopment.

The first stage — or stage 1A — would involve the construction of a new building next to Mead Street, featuring a new entry to the pool area, office, kiosk, changerooms, toilets, clubroom, veranda and terraced area.

Mead Street would be upgraded with parking, bicycle racks and landscaping.

At last week’s meeting, councillors endorsed the stage 1A plans and voted to adopt solar heating as the heat source for its swimming pools.

An application for $500,000 of funding will be submitted to the State Government under the Community Sport and Recreation Facilities Fund for first-stage construction.

If the funding application is successful, works are scheduled to start in March.

“The new building will meet current standards, provide a better viewing of the pool area, provide a club room for the swimming club, improved covered and seating areas for visitors and an improved entrance area,” Shire acting chief executive Paul Sheedy said.

“The strategy to refurbish the existing 50m pool and facilities, rather than build a new pool, came after extensive community and stakeholder consultation as well as engineering studies to determine the life expectancy of the 50m pool concrete bowl.

Refurbishing the 50m pool and upgrading the existing facilities was determined to be the most economical solution.”

Mr Sheedy said once the works were complete, the Shire would seek to start design work for stage 1B, including a new toddlers’ pool with a learn-to-swim lap pool.