Just what Launceston needs, another GYM. Putting a gym at the pool would be another loss to the organisation.

I remember when I was a kid the pool was packed on a hot day, the pools were large enough to play and were not always taken up by lane swimmers. I was at the aquatic centre one evening with a group of youth, recently. There was a quarter of a pool for 15 people, while 6 lap swimmers took up the remainder of the 3 other quarters of the pool. The diving boards were not allowed to be used. The slide was closed. They said never again. Next time we go to the basin.

Have an open day ($1.00 entry) close the confine the lap swimmers to the Olympic pool .. then see how many people show up!

Membership for the pool is just at an unaffordable price for most people. People that are not swimmers should be able to get free entry, to watch their kids.

LCC were warned that spending 30 million dollars on a pool for a population the size of Launceston was unsustainable, but they ignored all of the advice. Now we have a pool which is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars EVERY QUARTER ! Launceston ratepayers will barely be able to pay the interest on the loan, and when the pool's life is at an end in a few decades from now, the original loan will remain unpaid. Heads should roll. As ratepayers we should feel very, very ripped off.

The problem with the budget over-runs with all of Launceston's facilities is the same one we have always had. As a regional facility the Aquatic centre is used by a very large collective area, but the rate payers base is a very limited one. We need to negotiate some means of adjoining councils contributing to the cost of facilities provided by the city to many outside the city. Geographically we are hemmed in, and the situation, as it is, is unlikely to alter.

I am sorry Just Me feels this way.

The facility is a marvellous one, and we should embrace the fact that we have it.

I do agree that pricing is a problem. I have long espoused the notion that "bums on seats" was preferable to a half empty house. Perhaps the Council could revisit the cost of admission, at least on a trial basis.

The council was warned by its ratepayers that this was going to be a 'white elephant' but they still dreamed that they were the capital city and went ahead with it anyway. When will the people who manage ratepayers money learn to use it properly to benefit ALL the residents in Launceston and not just the few, as we have continually seen in the past.

I think that the really sad thing is the ridiculous haste with which the Council approved the building of this facility.

I recollect that it was approved before a report, into it's viability, had been completed.

To his credit, Mayor van Zetten opposed it at that time.

I recollect, also, that the previous City manager had expectations that appear to have not been reached. These expectations were understandable as the pool was "his baby".

Sadly, "chickens come home to roost" and what expensive chickens they have become.

Reduce staff and reduce operating hours as a matter of urgency. Rationalise all other expenses, e.g. motor expenses, telephone, travelling and promotional.

There is clear evidence for the need to do so. The City manager should be instructed accordingly as we do not need the "tail to wag the dog". The aldermen must take charge of this pool crisis, not leave it to others, no matter how well intentioned those others may be.

All suggestions of additional capital improvements, such as a gymnasium, should be be ignored.

Hi Jaytee - Other councils were invited to help fund the pool, but declined. Maybe they could see the writing on the wall. The only way out for ratepayers that I can see now is to cut our losses and try and sell it off, either to the State Govt. or to private enterprise. Ratepayers will lose millions either way, but at least there could be some hope in the decades to come of actually being rid of the noose.

by Jaytee "As a regional facility the Aquatic centre is used by a very large collective area, but the rate payers base is a very limited one. We need to negotiate some means of adjoining councils contributing to the cost of facilities provided by the city to many outside the city."

Are you under the misguided belief that only Launceston City residents pay rates. I live 25kms outside Launceston, have limited opportunitiies to get to the Aquatic centre, yet my rates go towards it as well. I would suggest that it is those people living outside of Launceston that are subsidising the centre for those Launcestonians that use it.

I was pleasantly suprised when I recently visited the Aquatic Centre - having spent many summers there as a kid/teen, buying hot pies and Coke smoothies - my recently visit blew me away. I loved the old centre, but this one is truly world-class with something for everyone. It amazes me that Launceston has such a place now, if the entry price wasn't so exxy I would spend more time up there (bi-daily rather than a weekend treat) but I put the price down to trying to recover cost asap, which is not necessarily the right path. I agree with "sam", a highly advertised $1 entry open day would bring in many new people who are curious to come along, be amazed and become hooked, just like they used to be with the old Centre.

Maybe the centre needs to have a look at when people are using the facility and change to needs,eg lap swimmers use the pool early mornings and later in afternoons so more space is opened up, two-thirds of a pool for 6 people is plain stupid, no wonder people are not going. Maybe cut the price and get more people thru and returns may even go up and make the managers get out of their offices and see what is actually going on