The midday to 6pm opening hours are the same as the hours prior to the pool’s redevelopment and these times generally take in the warmest part of the day, and provide opportunities for lunchtime swimmers, as well as families after school and work.

The new closure threshold on cooler days, which gained a majority of support in our community engagement, will create opportunities for longer opening hours on hot days, weekends and public holidays.

When setting the opening hours, we need to work within the allocated budget and balance the operating costs with forecast visitation numbers.

Based on these factors, we expect to subsidise each visit this season by about $20.

The operating budget for the pool is set during Council’s annual budget process.

When setting fees, we need to think about what is fair in relation to users of a service paying to get the benefit of that use, versus the cost of any shortfall in revenue to the wider ratepaying community.

Because the pool costs more to operate than the revenue it generates, we expect to subsidise each visit this season by about $20.

The season passes offered in previous years have been replaced with a 10-visit pass, to provide improved flexibility for swimmers in only paying for the visits they use.

We had 185 responses to the survey (see the results on this page).

We asked if people would like to see a temperature threshold introduced where we close on colder days to create opportunities to open for longer on hotter days, public holidays and weekends.

This was supported by the majority and has been implemented at a threshold of 21 degrees.

We also asked if people would prefer to see consistent opening hours across the season or shorter hours during school terms to allow for extended hours on school holidays.

Consistent hours received majority support and has been put in place.

Yes the report is available on this page under the Survey Results heading.

Our new Winchelsea Pool Facebook page will be our main source of communication.

We recommend you follow the page for updates, including notifications about closures due to cool weather.

Operational planning for the pool involves a range of factors including staffing, maintenance schedules, and budget constraints, which limit our ability to expand the season beyond its current timeframe.

The season length is comparable with similar facilities in other regional Victorian areas such as Southern Grampians, Mount Alexander, Moorabool and Corangamite Shires.

We can provide a dedicated lane for lap swimming during regular opening hours.

While we’re not able to implement regular morning lap sessions this season due to budget and staffing considerations, we’ll continue to keep this feedback in mind as we hand the operation of the pool to an external provider next year.

Yes, we’ll run VicSwim during January and we’re actively encouraging schools to book the pool for their swimming carnivals.

We appreciate this suggestion but there are safety considerations – we need to ensure clear visibility across the facility for our lifeguards.