I want to let you know Council is restarting its conversation with you about how we provide aquatic facilities into the future.

We are working towards catering for the needs of all community members who use our aquatics facilities.

Whether you are part of a family after some water recreation, you like to swim laps for exercise, you are a competitive swimmer, you’re a visitor to our region, you are recovering from injury using aquatic activities or you want to learn to swim or improve their swimming ability.

We agree you should have a community facility to be able to do those things. We have talked about local aquatic facilities for some time and I can reveal today that we are making a change to our approach.

Our aim is to have two new separate aquatic facilities in Tamworth city to meet one strategic goal – to provide for future aquatic needs of the whole community.

The Tamworth Regional Aquatics and Leisure Centre proposed for adjacent to the Tamworth Sports Dome continues to be an important part of our plan.

However, in a more financially sustainable move, we are looking to deliver this facility in stages with an indoor 50 metre pool being the first priority.

After hearing the community’s requests to continue to have a water presence in the Tamworth CBD, we now propose to redevelop the Tamworth Olympic Pool site to create a pool with more of a lifestyle and recreation focus while also catering for lap swimmers.

This approach aligns perfectly with the goals of Council’s Blueprint 100 to create a more liveable region through the provision of great recreational spaces.

We are actively seeking grant opportunities from the NSW Government and Australian Government to deliver your – the community’s vision.

I give you my assurance we will come back to you and let you know about any costs Council and our community may be required to contribute.

But how we afford these exciting projects - either though government grants, Council funding or a combination - will be discussed openly by your elected officials.