{"id":544517,"date":"2026-07-26T08:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T08:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/544517\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T08:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T08:03:15","slug":"sunlive-resident-fights-to-save-memorial-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/544517\/","title":{"rendered":"SunLive – Resident fights to save Memorial Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LDR_LOGO\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot sit by and watch another part of the city\u2019s heritage be destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those were Tauranga resident Jan Iles\u2019 words on Tuesday as she submitted to city councillors her petition to stop the demolition of the Memorial Pool.on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Her petition asked that the council defer making any final decisions about whether the war memorial swimming pool should be demolished until after it had consulted with the community.<\/p>\n

The outdoor pool in Memorial Park was built in 1955 to honour those lost in World War II.<\/p>\n

It opened five months a year over summer, but permanently closed at Easter<\/a> due to age-related issues.<\/p>\n

\"The

\nThe Tauranga Memorial Pool has been closed since Easter. Photo \/ Kelly O’Hara<\/p>\n

In a report to a closed-door council meeting in April, pool operator Bay Venues described the Memorial Pool as operating at 20% of its capacity.<\/p>\n

It was described as in \u201cend-of-life\u201d condition, due to significant leaks and an \u201cageing\u201d heating system.<\/p>\n

The report said closing the pool permanently would save $176,000 a year.<\/p>\n

The council supported the closure and announced it in a media release.<\/p>\n

Bay Venues chief executive Chad Hooker said the pool was not used enough to support the cost of keeping it open.<\/p>\n

Mayor Mah\u00e9 Drysdale said a new facility proposed for the site would be a significant upgrade.<\/p>\n

The council has been looking at scaled-back options<\/a> for a new aquatic centre at Memorial Park after ditching a $124 million<\/a> plan approved when a commission was leading the council. It included indoor and outdoor pools, three hydroslides and a splash pad.<\/p>\n

In May, councillors progressed a new concept estimated at $81m<\/a> and focused on core services, including lane swimming, sports, learn-to-swim programmes, hydrotherapy and recreational use.<\/p>\n

They also approved $4m funding to decommission the existing pool, and for detailed design and consenting of the new facility.<\/p>\n

They discussed the pool being a memorial, and agreed the design for the new facility would include a connection to this, and extend it to include all New Zealand conflict veterans.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Iles said the council created a community board for the \u014ct\u016bmoetai Pools including community representatives, and the same should be done for the Memorial Park pool.<\/p>\n

\"Jan

\nJan lles said the community had been let down and public consultation needed to take place. Photo \/ Kelly O’Hara<\/p>\n

She claimed the process for the demolition decision and latest planning for the new aquatic centre had \u201cbeen in breach of the Local Government Act\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

She claimed the decommissioning funding decision came less than 24 hours after councillors were made aware of the pool\u2019s historic significance.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community has been let down.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the proposed aquatic centre project had raised many concerns within the community, with the growing debt burden on ratepayers being one of the most significant.<\/p>\n

She claimed no options had been considered to retain or refurbish the pools.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Iles said people had lined up to sign the petition when they campaigned at a local market.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The online version had more than 1900 signatures, she said, and a hand-signed copy had about 600.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The

\nThe council will revisit the redesign, costs and long-term funding implications for the new development in September. Photo \/ Kelly O’Hara<\/p>\n

Tauranga resident Barry Scott also spoke in the council meeting\u2019s public forum to oppose the demolition.<\/p>\n

He said if the council demolished the pool, it would be \u201cdigging a hole that future councils and ratepayers will have a lot of trouble getting out of\u201d.<\/p>\n

Matua-\u014ct\u016bmoetai ward councillor Glen Crowther asked Scott if he was familiar with the Long-Term Plan consultation on the pool.<\/p>\n

Scott said he viewed this consultation as inadequate. He called for a group to be formed of representatives, iwi, council representatives and affected parties to study the issue, listen to different viewpoints, compare options and consider expert advice.<\/p>\n

The council unanimously voted to receive the petition.<\/p>\n

Iles asked Drysdale when they could expect a response, to which Drysdale said, \u201cI\u2019m not sure\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The council was expected to revisit the design, costs and long-term funding implications for the new Memorial Park Aquatic Centre in September, as part of wider discussions for the next Long-Term Plan.<\/p>\n

\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n

Ayla Yeoman<\/a> is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based in Tauranga. She holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in communications, politics and international relations from the University of Auckland, and has been a journalist since 2022.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI cannot sit by and watch another part of the city\u2019s heritage be destroyed.\u201d Those were Tauranga resident…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-544517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}