December 13, 2012

Swimming pool patronage way up

Patronage at the Council pools in Raumati, Waikanae and Otaki have risen sharply since Council brought management of the pools in-house.

Preliminary figures for Raumati show a doubling in patronage from 5300 last October/November to 10,800 for the same period this year. Waikanae patronage has risen from 3800 to 5300 and Otaki from 1300 to 4200.

Senior Council manager Tamsin Evans told councillors on Thursday that many customers had commented favourably on the quality of service and the facilities since Council had brought the management of the pools back in-house.

Council decided this week that the cost of using the facilities at the new Coastlands Aquatic Centre will be the same as the facilities at Raumati, Waikanae and Otaki.

A report to Council said leaving the prices unchanged for the remainder of 2012/13 would send a very positive message to the community and would go a long way to encourage new and continued use of the (yet to be opened) Coastlands Aquatic Centre, as well as the other existing facilities.

The charges are adult ($4.50), child ($2.20), under five swim ($1.20) adult swimming with a child under five ($1.20), spectators (free), Community Services Cardholder ($2.20), Senior Citizens over 60 ($2.20), Aquafit per class ($5), and hydroslide ($2.50).

There are also 10, 20, 30 and 50 swim concession tickets. The prices of these will also remain unchanged.

Council added several new price structures to the existing list. They include family passes, group discounts for adults and children, hire charges per hour for the entire complexes, lane hire charges, commercial lane hire charges and charges for meeting rooms.

The charges compare favourably with other aquatic centres in the region. A chart is attached to the staff report to Council. Examples include adult (Kapiti $4.50), Porirua $5; child (Kapiti $2.20), Porirua $3; preschool (Kapiti $1.20), Porirua $3; senior citizens (Kapiti $2.20), Porirua $2.50.

The report to Council said there will be 10 swimming lanes in the new Coastlands Aquatic Centre and that demand for access was already high.

Council also decided to extend the weekend and public holiday opening hours for the Waikanae pool by two hours from the new opening time of 6am following an overture from Councillor Peter Ellis. The new times will be effective from the weekend after Christmas until the end of February.
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