Tepid Baths Supporter Club


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CONTACT US

Send Compaints... mayor@aucklandcity.govt.nz & cr.moyle@aucklandcity.govt.nz

Councils Objectives for Swimming Pools HERE
Overall goal - The council’s provision of swimming pools in Auckland city contributes to the goal of building strong and healthy communities through:
•    increasing participation
•    improving health
•    developing water skills
•    contributing to excellence in aquatic sports
•    developing a sense of community.
... is closing the Tepid Baths consistent with these council objectives???. I think the answer is clearly not!

For the past 4 months since the announcement we have indeed been fighting this planned pool closure by leaning heavily on the council to revise the 3 years to a shorter 4 to 6 weeks close for repairs before reopening. This would allow the pool to remain open throughout the RWC next year and also allow all community groups that use the pool heavily to continue use while there is no other suitable venue for these many swimmers. It is interesting that up until November last year all discussions with the YMCA (facility management contractor) discussed a 3-6 month closure only for all repairs and refurbishment.

Personel-wise we are fortunate to have lawyer Gary Gotlieb leading this charge and he has involved both the Ombudsman Richard Fisher and John Key into the issue so the landscape has indeed been changing with Councillor Greg Moyle now accepting that other options such as repairing the facility (while open) are indeed possible. Gary and others have initiated 6 meetings with the council so far with respect to this issue so there are changes being made and people are listening, but it is imperative we continue to fight this though until there are actual confirmed changes made and publicly notified.

We also now have a partner at a major Auckland Engineering company on record saying that even the current engineers report done by Holmes Group shows that the facility is not a Health & Safety issue, and although it does need work this can almost entirely be carried out with the pool still OPEN. This has been made even easier with the YMCA gym now absent from the facility already. We have two other engineers who corroborate this information as well.

There is no other inner city pool complex that is either truely public or is year-round (Pt Erin and Parnell Baths are both outdoors and neither are heated). Even the management of the Pt Erin pools know nothing of the apparent proposal to enclose Pt Erin to make it an indoor complex.

John Fay who is arguably the most knowledgeable person on the Tepid Baths (he ran the pool for over 10 years around the 1990s period) has gone on record saying that there is nothing in the Engineers report that makes the facility unsafe to a level where the Teps should close so the council's decision is definitely a wrong one. John has indeed seen the issues with his own eyes plus taken engineers through personally to view the said areas of concern.

It should be of interest that although there are areas that do need attention, the structures needing repair have been and still are contractually and legally the council's responsibility - this is clearly written into the legal document binding the current facility management and council together. This shows a clear and obvious in breach of this agreement from the council to the deteriment of the community.

We have sighted the Maintenance Reports form the Tepid Baths for the past 15 years and as Gary has noted even he spent more on maintaining his own house that the council spent on keeping the Teps at a level where it should have been kept. It is definitely of interest also that the Heritage Committee have also seemed to overlook correct maintenance of this building. Perhaps intentionally?! But for what reason...

There are a wide range of community groups in definite need and currently still use this facility...
Auckland Central Masters Swim Club
Team Auckland Gay Swim Club (NZs only gay swim team)
FutureDreams Adult Fitness Squads
Womens only Learn to swim and Technical Classes
Waitemata Swim Club
AirNZ Sfaety School
Customs Training
Auckland Police Training
GlobalDive Dive School
Maritime School (training for flight attendants etc)
Tepid Baths Swim School - 650 Children
Waiheke Residents Wanting to Swim/Learn to Swim

(please add to this list if you have any more info)