The Beagle Editor, It be should be noted that we requested council provide us with a copy of the letters of support they claim to have received to accompany the grant application. We were given heavily redacted copies of those letters. We, on the other hand, the Save the 50m Pool group have been more than honest, open and transparent with council in providing unredacted copies of letters to council and Minister Constance from the community objecting to council's plan to replace our 50m pool with an inadequate 25m noting that this is the only point of difference in the proposed redevelopment. When these letters of support were sought, council did not advise their intention to rid the community of our 50m pool nor did they provide those sought with a copy of the concept plan. This in itself is deceptive on council's part. In May 2016, at a public meeting hosted by Perfex and attended by 56 community organisations/people, it was unanimously agreed that the new development contain a '10 lane Olympic sized swimming pool'. Here is the link to that document: www.perfex.org.au/pdfs/Community_Proposal_May_2016.pdf Of course, this was at a time when the community believed that the Bowling Club had been purchased for the 'community' and not simply as a hurried exercise in order to enhance a particular councillor's re-election chances. Little did the unsuspecting community know that this purchase was simply a 'strategic' purchase and council never intended the Bowling Club to be used by the community. Now the community is fully aware of the reason for the purchase of the Bowling Club and the deception that has gone on for way too long, they are rightly angry. Had the community been properly consulted then the Arts facility would have been located on the Bowling Club site (with immediate occupation being taken up as proposed at the Perfex meeting in May 2016 by a very excited group of people with some excellent ideas for now and into the FUTURE) and the Aquatic centre would have been located on the existing pool site with a 10 lane Olympic pool in the mix. This would have opened up the doors to all sorts of benefits for the whole Shire. There is so much that the broader community does not know because Council insists on various committees and our councillors to sign 'Confidentiality Agreements'. WHY? What is there to hide? What is going on? Time to lift the veil of secrecy. Time to break down the closed door. The Federal Government assessors for the Regional Growth fund $25m grant will be provided the redacted letters of support as evidence that while Council indicated there were 25 letters it is clear that there is no evidence to being specifically in support of removing the town's 50m pool and replacing it with a 25m pool. Coral Anderson Our Towns Our Say
