Project objective
Overview
An affordable, public warm water pool in Bayside will help improve quality of life for residents of all ages and abilities.
The location in the north-east corner of the Brighton Golf Course next to the car park would allow easy access and protection of the local and residential environment, as well as close proximity to Bayside’s proportionally older population. The public golf course would remain a par-67 with the careful realignment of two holes.
Warm Water Pool
There are many proven benefits of regular warm water exercise, particularly for older people, those with a disability, and sportspeople rehabilitating after injury. Benefits include aiding reablement and improving active participation and quality of life.
The pool would cater for all ages, thanks to a moveable floor in the main pool to facilitate children’s swimming lessons, while a second, fixed-depth clinical pool enables aquatic programming and therapeutic activities to run at the same time. To ensure access and inclusion for all, changerooms for those with complex or high needs, would be included.
An independent feasibility study confirmed a warm water pool would likely receive high usage from Bayside’s proportionally older population and those with a disability or injury.
Wellness Centre
The Brighton Golf Course lessee has also proposed to independently fund, develop and operate a wellness centre adjacent to the warm water pool. It would include hot springs and plunge pools, as well as a sauna, spa, snow room and reflexology walk through the natural environment.
Council is undertaking several phase of community engagement on this significant project to ensure the warm water pool facility will meet community needs.
Stage 1 community engagement - Support for the idea
This first consultation phase was to understand community support for the public warm water pool and/or the private wellness centre at Brighton Golf Course.
There was strong community support for a local warm water pool (80%) and many residents told us they would use it (77%) for gentle exercise, therapy and rehabilitation, and toddler learn to swim classes. There was also strong support for the proposed wellness centre (70%).
Council considered community feedback and next steps at its June 2022 meeting. Read the meeting minutes.
Read the community engagement report.
Stage 2a: Warm Water Pool concept design development
This phase of consultation is focused on the Warm Water Pool concept design.
Stage 2b: Proposed leases for the Brighton Golf Course site
Council is expected to consider the proposed leases for the site at its 17 October 2023 meeting. Following this, community consultation on the proposed lease terms will open for four weeks.
Project impacts
There are many proven benefits of regular warm water exercise for all ages, but particularly older people and those with a disability. Benefits include aiding re-ablement and improving active participation and quality of life.
Bayside’s population is aging, with an increasing percentage of older residents and those with a disability, obesity, or health conditions. High participation in sport and rehabilitation after injury; as well as strong demand for younger children’s swimming lessons supports the need for a local publicly accessible warm water pool.
Changes to Australian Government social policy, such as MyAgeCare and NDIS, actively focus on providing incentives for people to participate in community-based health, wellness and re-ablement activities. These changes will drive the demand for and improve the cost effectiveness of warm water facilities in coming years, particularly in active older communities such as Bayside.
In 2018 community members petitioned Council to introduce a hydrotherapy/warm water pool accessible for all residents for a wide range of health conditions – encompassing pain management, chronic conditions and rehabilitation following injury and surgery. Further community consultation with a specific cohort of older people and health service providers has shown a need for clinical warm water facilities in Bayside.
Council completed a Warm Water Pool feasibility study in 2020, which considered the demographic characteristics of Bayside and confirmed that a warm water pool in most locations would receive high usage.
Phases of community engagement are planned to better understand broader support for the facility(ies) and likely usage, as well as inform the concept design and ways Council can support access to the facility for low-income residents.
Following the exploration of eleven sites across Bayside, including Thomas Street in Hampton, the north-east corner of the Brighton Golf Course next to the car park has been selected as the best location for access and protection of the local and residential environment, as well as proximity to a high proportion of Bayside’s older residents. Council endorsed the north-east corner of Brighton Golf Course as a preferred site for a public warm water pool at its December 2021 meeting.
The Brighton Golf Course site can accommodate additional facilities and enable more of our community to enjoy this public space – in line with the Bayside 2050 Community Vision to ensure that open space and community infrastructure on that land has the potential for multipurpose use.
The proposed Wellness Centre would require realignment of the existing golf course. The Wellness Centre will require making the existing 9th hole a par 4 – offset by lengthening the 12th hole from a par 4 to a par 5. The 9th hole would equal the existing par 4 challenge of the 12th hole at approximately 484m.
The Brighton Golf Course lessee has also proposed further investment in the golf course such as new indoor golf training and couching facilities and improvements across the whole course.
Warm water pools consume large amounts of energy. In line with Council’s commitment to carbon neutrality and our Climate Emergency Action Plan, the new facility will implement innovative environmentally sustainable and efficient energy management techniques.
Environmental elements include the heating of air and water heated via renewable energy sources, pool water recycling treatment to minimise water wastage, retention of storm water from building and site to reduce use of potable water and structural design details to ensure the integrity of the building’s thermal envelope.
Geothermal waters are popular worldwide and quickly growing in Victoria with well-established Peninsula Hot Springs and Deep Blue Warrnambool. Research indicates Brighton Golf Course has mineralised water on site and a good chance of having thermal water from a deep bore.
The Brighton Golf Course lessee is proposing to initially operate the Wellness Centre utilising mineral water from a shallow bore drawing from the Werribee aquifer and provide this to the pools via heating and filtration.
Some vegetation would need to be removed to accommodate the Warm Water Pool – this would be offset by the planting of more than 500 trees throughout the golf course site.
The construction and provision of a warm water pool would be a significant investment for Council, with a current expected cost of around $25 million.
The proposed Wellness Centre would be fully funded by B;ueFit - the golf course lessee - with the provider paying an annual lease fee. At the end of the lease Council would own the Wellness Centre too.
What information do we need from the community?
Stage 2 engagement: September - October 2023
Warm water pool
- Design of the Warm Water Pool (what it looks like)
- Services offered at Warm Water Pool (what people would use/like to use)
- Hours of access/operation (when community can use it)
- Support for pensioners, vulnerable and low-income residents to access Warm Water Pool facility/services.
Stage 1 engagement: February - April 2022 - COMPLETED
Warm water pool
- Design of the Warm Water Pool (what it looks like)
- Services offered at Warm Water Pool (what people would use/like to use)
- Structure of fees and charges for the Warm Water Pool
- Support for pensioners, vulnerable and low-income residents to access Warm Water Pool facility/services
Wellness Centre
- Development of the Wellness Centre at BCG (whether the Wellness Centre should be built)
- Preferred facilities and services in the Wellness Centre (what people would use)
Other/site
- Changes to the golf course
- Landscaping and planting across the site
Selected tools and techniques
The tools and techniques selected for this project are informed by the project content, stakeholders and type of feedback sought.
Print:
- Let’s Talk Bayside magazine
- Letter to residents in close proximity to Brighton Golf Course
- Information stands, including flyer, at Brighton Golf Course, Bayside libraries and Corporate Centre
- Large scale site signage
- Postcard and printed surveys to hand out at face-to-face events
Digital:
- Have Your Say project webpage
- Email notification to Have Your Say members
- Council website news stories and This Week in Bayside e-newsletter
- Animated explainer video
- Social media, including sponsored posts
- Article for inclusion in various special interest Council and school newsletters
- Digital screens at the Corporate Centre, Libraries, and Maternal Child Health Centres
- NewsCorp digital advertising (Phase 1 only)
Stakeholders and community
This stakeholder assessment is a generalised understanding of sections of the community that have a connection to the project or matter. This information is used to understand the types of tools and techniques that will achieve the strongest and most effective outcomes for engagement and communication.
- Impact: What level of change the stakeholder / community segment may experience as a result of the project / matter
- Interest: What level of interest has been expressed or is anticipated
- Influence: Reference to the IAP2 Spectrum
Stakeholder / community | Interest | Impact | Influence |
Surrounding residents | H | H | Consult |
Brighton Golf Course Members | H | H | Consult |
Older residents (>60 years) | H | H | Consult |
Residents with disability or chronic illness (and their carers) | H | H | Consult |
Parents of young children | M | M | Consult |
General Bayside community | L | M | Consult |
Environmental / Friends’ of Groups | H | M | Consult |
Sports clubs and members | M | M | Consult |
Allied Health Services | M | M | Consult |
Sandringham Family Leisure Centre Users/members | M | M | Inform |
Bayside traders / businesses | M | M | Consult |
Other tenants in Dendy Park precinct | M | L | Inform |
Schools – in particular Brighton Secondary College | M | M | Consult |
Aquatic specialists | M | L | Inform |
Bayside Healthy Ageing Reference Group | H | M | Involve |
Disability Access and Inclusion Advisory Committee | H | M | Involve |
Decision-making process
Council considered community feedback from the first phase of consultation, together with a report on the proposed warm water pool and wellness centre at its July 2022 meeting. Read the community engagement report. Read the meeting minutes.
The second phase of community engagement will run from 20 September to 5pm 17 October 2023. This phase will focus on the concept design and ways to ensure accessibility and inclusion. Community feedback from this phase of engagement and the next steps for the project are expected to be considered by Council at its November 2023 meeting.
Council is expected to consider proposed leases for the Brighton Golf Course site at its 17 October 2023 meeting. Following this, community consultation on the proposed lease terms will open for four weeks.
Detailed design of the warm water pool facility will be informed by all phases of community engagement and be completed prior to the application for a planning permit. Community members will be able to provide feedback on the warm water pool project via the statutory planning process. Community members will also be able to provide feedback on the proposed private wellness centre via its separate planning permit process.
Subject to planning approval, it is expected that construction could commence in late 2024.
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More information
Sara Townsend
Recreation Projects Coordinator | Open Space, Recreation & Wellbeing
03 9599 4818
