Joy of Water swim school holds concerns for business with City of Newcastle tender for Beresfield pool

Beresfield is the only of City of Newcastle's five pools not fully leased to a private operator, however the council recently called for tenders to run all five aquatic centres.

Joy of Water managing director Walter Ellem, who rents lanes from council to run classes, fears this could spell the end for his swim school business.

He said he was forced to pull his lessons from Tea Gardens pool in MidCoast when it was put out to tender.

"They want their staff to do it, not us," Mr Ellem said. "It just makes it really hard for outside people to hire the lanes.

"We have to wait until we find out who it is that takes over the contract."

Council said that no decision had been made on if there will be any change to the current operation of any pool and the tender process "has been required so that staff can understand the future cost of operating our pools if done via the pools industry, as well as the industry's willingness to invest in the upgrading of our pools".

Management arrangements will be determined before the 2023/24 financial year, a council spokesperson said.

The Herald asked City of Newcastle if current swim school operators would be allowed to continue at Beresfield if a tender is awarded. The spokesperson said in response: "if a private operator of a swim school is concerned about a potential competitor in their industry then it is not a matter for council".

Mr Ellem said he found out through pool staff about the tender process. He said he considered applying, but was given the impression it wouldn't be worth it unless his business could manage all the pools.

The matter comes at a time when drownings are on the rise and there are limited availabilities for swimming lessons across the country.

"I'm sold out at the moment," Mr Ellem said. "I sold out in nine days."

"The reason we set it up is, I have a child with autism and I have another child with social anxiety.

"When we went looking for learn to swim for them when they were younger, there was nothing out there as an option.

"So one of the big things for our school is we do all ages, all abilities."

Mr Ellem wrote to council earlier this week about how he believes the tender process will impact his business, but said he had not heard back.

"I don't care who runs the pool management, I just want to have some assurance that we can continue," he said.

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