Community board compromises on Thames pool proposal

Friday, 28 March 2025

It’s now up to the Thames-Coromandel District Council to find $26m of funding for the Thames community’s new swimming pool complex.

A compromise over costs has seen the Thames Community Board opt for a $26.2m swimming pool facility for the town after a gold-plated $77m option was rejected due to a lack of funding.

However, the final decision on whether the town will get a new aquatic facility will be made by the Thames-Coromandel District Council, possibly in the coming months.

On March 19, the Thames Community Board voted to recommend to council its preferred option of a $26.2m all-indoor facility within the grounds of Thames High School.

Thames Community Board chairperson Adrian Catran doubts if Thames locals would want to pay $680 a year for 30 years for a new swimming pool complex.

This comes after a report written for the Thames Coromandel District Council’s Thames Aquatic Facilities Project, was presented to the board in February with staff flagging a 'significant reduction“ to external funding options, and that council would be unlikely to meet a 2027 deadline agreed to with local iwi Ngāti Māru.

In March last year, the Waikato Times reported that Thames Centennial Pools would be demolished and the land at Taipari Reserve upon which it sits would be given back to its original iwi owners.

The 50-year-old pool complex was deemed to be past its use by date and is located on an old urupa belonging to Ngāti Māru, which was to be returned by 2027.

The old Thames Centennial Pool complex is past its used by date, and the land on which it sits belongs to local iwi and is expected to be returned by 2027.

The board’s preferred option is for three pools - a learn-to-swim pool for younger children, a programme pool for therapy, aqua jogging and learn-to-swim classes for older children, and a six-lane 25m pool and indoor splash pad.

However, community board chairman Adrian Catran said the council would struggle to pay for any new pool complex, that locals would not be able to afford it, and external funding would be critical.

Under the preferred option the new pool’s capital costs would be reduced by building its roof with ‘structural fabric’ made of curved steel with two layers of structural fabric sandwiched in between.

If funded entirely by Thames Ward ratepayers, Catran said the average annual cost per ratepayer for the recommended facility would be $682 for 30 years, a cost he felt they could not pay alone.

“We recognise that having year-round warm water pools for learn-to-swim, fitness, wellbeing, leisure and rehabilitation is hugely important to Thames and the surrounding community,” he said.

If paid for by Thames residents alone, the proposed pool complex would costs ratepayers $680 a year for 30 years.

In a 2024, community survey found 81% of respondents thought a pool was of “vital or high importance”.

“At the same time, the issue of affordability has been uppermost in the board’s mind.

“Finding a way to make the pool replacement affordable to the community is a major challenge.”

He said the board has asked council staff to report on funding options for council to consider.

“But it’s my gut feeling we won’t be getting a decision until the next council term, or even next year.”

He said a more than 300-page feasibility study assessed 19 possible sites, and determined that the Richmond Street site on land leased from Thames High School was the best option.

“No one can say we did not do our due diligence,” he said.

“In all fairness, this was democracy working at its best.”

But Catran had concerns for the future viability of any pool complex as “I see a few councils in New Zealand now are struggling to keep their pools open”.

“They certainly don’t make councils any money.”

He also doubted if the district’s ageing population would make use of, or could even afford to use the pools.

“By 2030, we’re expected to have 41% of our population over the age of 65, and most of them will be on fixed incomes.”