In terms of public swimming pools per capita, Merri-bek is doing well with one pool per 30288 people. During extreme heat they become important venues for people to cool off and socialise.

But our local community have had to fight to stop pool closures in the past.

Leisure Centres and public swimming pools are subsidised from Council Revenue. Day to day management of the pools is presently contracted to YMCA Victoria. Here are our public swimming pools:

• Brunswick Baths
• Coburg Leisure Centre
• Pascoe Vale Pool
• Coburg Olympic Pool
• Oak Park Sports and Activity Centre
• Fawkner Leisure Centre

Many local governments have a much higher ratio of people per pool, and this often reflects the level of social inequality as well as historical circumstances.

Local swimming pools are important for swimming lessons, and as social venues, and to cool off in hot weather like we have seen in December 2024 and January 2025.

Community groups over the years have actively defended Merri-bek’s range of outdoor swimming pools from closure. This particularly includes campaigns to keep the Pascoe Vale outdoor Swimming Pool, Coburg Olympic Pool and the outdoor pool at the Fawkner Leisure Centre.

• Save Pascoe Vale Outdoor Pool https://www.facebook.com/savepascoevaleoutdoorpool
• Friends of Coburg Olympic Pool https://www.facebook.com/coburgolympicpool
• Friends of the Fawkner Pool https://www.facebook.com/SaveFawknerPool

Coburg Pool was threatened with closure in 2006 and was shut for two seasons. A campaign by the Friends of Coburg Pool helped ensure its re-opening in 2008.

In 1998, 2010 amd 2017 Pascoe Vale Swimming Pool seemed to be at risk of closure and the local community mobilised to save the pool. In 1999 residents organised a petition with a 1000 signatures gathered from door to door campaigning to keep and upgrade the pool.

A proposal to develop the Fawkner Leisure Centre in 2021 originally had the closure of the 50 metre outdoor pool, and repurposing the are for outdoor water play. The response was a successful campaign to Save the Fawkner Pool.

Council, in the past, have listened to these local resident campaigns and have maintained our much loved Public Swimming Pools.

Campaign to Save the Fitzroy Swimming Pool in 1994

But without community resistance it would be very different. Campaigns in Merri-bek came after the fight to the save the Fitzroy pool from closure in 1994, a decision by Kennett government appointed Commissioners to Yarra Council after Council amalgamations, when privatisation and neo-liberalism was core public policy. (Read: The Age, How people power, John Clarke and Julian Assange saved Fitzroy Pool)

The comedian John Clarke, who was part of the Save Fitzroy Pool Campaign, provided a witty rebuke for economic rationalism in the urban landscape:

“If they close this pool because it’s not making money, obviously, libraries are in trouble and it’s frankly not looking all that clever for parks.  They can put a fence round the park and charge you to walk on it, or they can get rid of it; they can sell it to raise money. Footpaths are also running at a loss; there is not a single footpath anywhere in Fitzroy that is doing anything like returning any kind of proper return on investment.” – Swimming Pool Stories

Out with gas boilers, heat pumps are in

Some of the Merri-bek Leisure Centres are also major contributors to Council’s greenhouse gas emissions through the gas boilers they use for heating. Climate Action Merribek has lobbied for upgrade of Council Swimming Pools to reduce Council emissions.

The redevelopment of the Fawkner Leisure Centre has transitioned off using gas to industrial scale electric heat pumps. While other Councils have built new Leisure Centres based on electric heat pumps, Fawkner is the first redeveloped Leisure Centre in Victoria to make this transition, and Council should be congratulated for investing in this move.

Over the following years Council will need to upgrade the Brunswick Baths, Coburg Leisure Centre and Oak Park Sports and Activity Centre to also move from gas to electric heating.

Melbourne Council pool ratios

The following data from The Guardian comparing pool and population ratios based on Government websites, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Guardian Australia:

Council area	Population per pool
Melton	178690
Kingston	163724
Knox	161766
Wyndham	146006
Casey	130703
Manningham	129514
Brimbank	97309
Maribyrnong	91762
Whitehorse	86320
Hume	87588
Greater Dandenong	81896
Whittlesea	81676
Greater Dandenong	79104
Glen Eira	78419
Darebin	77842
Frankston	71413
Monash	67853
Melbourne City Council	59132
Boroondara	58179
Mornington	56748
Stonnington	52352
Hobsons Bay	46869
Banyule	43201
Moonee Valley	42162
Maroondah	39145
Yarra	32483
Nillumbik	31632
Merri-Bek	30288
Cardinia	25392
Yarra Ranges	19837
Bayside	0

References

The Guardian, 4 January 2025, High and dry: the suburbs of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane where it’s hard to find a pool. Affluent areas average as few 7,000 residents per public pool, while suburbs farther from the coast may have as many as 138,000 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/03/high-and-dry-the-suburbs-of-sydney-melbourne-and-brisbane-where-its-hard-to-find-a-pool

The Age, 7 December 2024, How people power, John Clarke and Julian Assange saved Fitzroy Pool, https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/how-people-power-john-clarke-and-julian-assange-saved-fitzroy-pool-20241203-p5kviq.html

Merri-bek Council, Active Merri-bek. This is an entry point to the six Council facilities and their programs and opening times: https://active.merri-bek.vic.gov.au/centres