20 September 2023
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Aquatic Centre closure due to bore issue
Enquiry
Could please answer the following questions about the Rotorua Aquatic Centre closures?
How long will the facility stay closed for?
How many people use the Aquatic Centre facilities each day and each week?
How will this affect the Aquatic Centre as a business?
What is the cost of repairs/maintenance for the facility?
Subsequent from reporter:
Further to my enquiry about the Rotorua Aquatic Centre closures, I'd like to provide you with the following comment for a right of reply, if you wish to add to your response by 3pm today.
One chairman of a local swim club said he hoped the council was doing “all they can do to resolve it quickly and swiftly”.
Further enquiry from reporter:
Another right of reply if you wish to add to your last response:
The Rotorua Aquatic Centre announced on its Facebook page today the centre would re-open this Friday 22 September. What is your response to this?
One of the swim school head coaches fears the pool will be closed long-term and will affect their student's ability for swim training. What is your response to this?
Response
From Group Manager Infrastructure and Environmental Solutions Stavros Michael (re initial and subsequent questions from reporter):
We don’t know how long the Aquatic Centre will be close, but council is doing all it can to get it re-opened as soon as is possible and will let the community know if/when we have any updates.
Prior to the facility upgrades that are currently underway (currently only the outdoor pool and facilities are open) an average of 270 people visited the centre every day, averaging 1800 per week.
You can find updates on the Aquatic Centre revitalisation project at this link on the RLC website: News updates | Whakahou kawepūrongo - Vision to Action
We noted that the impact of the closure is yet to be determined and will depend on the length of closure and that we don’t yet know what the cost of repairs to the bore will be.
In response to further enquiry from reporter we provided the following:
The Facebook post is being corrected.
We don’t yet know how long the centre will be closed but will get it re-opened as soon as is possible.