January 24, 2015
Kingaroy mum Caitlin Pfeiffer has launched an online petition in a bid to prove to the South Burnett Regional Council that local residents want more shade at the Kingaroy swimming pool.
Caitlin’s three-year-old son Kaihlan is about to start swimming lessons, and she’s worried there’s not enough shade over the pool, and in the poolside area.
“You can’t stay for long in the pool, and you can’t sit for long near the pool,” she said.
“There needs to be some sort of shading.
“Half the time the sun is belting into the grandstand.
“They took the trees down along the fence and didn’t replace them with anything.”
Caitlin said she also believed the children’s pool, which is currently half-shaded, should have a full cover.
And the main pool should at least have some shade cloth across it, if not down the full length.
After comments on social media, Caitlin emailed South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann and Deputy Mayor Keith Campbell about the issue.
She started the petition on Change.org on Monday so she could go back to Council with numbers; more than 320 people have already signed it.
South Burnett councillors visited the pool on Friday morning to discuss improvements at the facility.
Mayor Kratzmann said the lack of shade was “a very valid point”.
- External link: Caitlin Pfeiffer’s online petition
Shade is not the only concern and responsibility that the council need to embark upon. Also the opening hours need to be considered (especially at the Wondai Swimming Pool). Today, like many long hot Summer days, I quiet often find myself ready willing and able to go for a swim to cool down, generally at approximately 5:15pm, with still a few hours of daylight available and much to my disappointment the pool has already closed for the day. I find this ridiculous. Although one could comfortably not worry about the effects so much of sun burn, yet the pool is not available to the public after a long hot working day.