This is to be conducted by a consultant and should clarify the possibility of rebuilding the existing Bass Coast Centre in Wonthaggi and also a new centre on Phillip Island.
The feasibility study is to gauge your support for an additional charge on your rates.
The Phillip Island Aquatic Centre Fund would like you to consider two issues before giving your response.
Firstly, as Phillip Island is the biggest contributor to Rates and Tourism to Council and the State and Federal governments, why can’t we have an Aquatic Centre on the Island?
We have been trying for 22 years to provide a centre to teach children to swim, and we also want to provide the elderly and physically disabled the potential health benefits of Hydrotherapy facilities.
Secondly, during our 22 years of voluntary committees coupled with many feasibility studies, Council has not been prepared to consider how a joint funding or partnership arrangement could achieve our goal.
Any additional charge on rates will not fund these centres in full; the charge will go into a combined fund consisting of State and Federal funding along with any additional money that can be sourced.
Councillor Rankine asked last year how committed Phillip Island people were to the centre so “The Advertiser” ran a survey in July 2013.
The results are 99.9% of replies in the positive, to build a centre NOW, not as Council wants in 10 – 20 years.
All we are looking for is a committed Council to agree to build a Phillip Island Aquatic centre in the short term.
Once we have this commitment we can start fulfilling our goals of assisting the many children, elderly and physically disabled to achieve better HEALTH outcomes, not just in Wonthaggi but for the entire BASS COAST REGION.
Phillip Island Aquatic Centre Fund Inc.