5 Jan 2025

Christchurch community pool rebuild greenlit after 18-year campaign

9:18 am on 5 January 2025
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File image. Photo: 123rf.com

A new community pool is to be built in the Christchurch suburb of St Albans, 18 years after the previous one was demolished.

In 2007, the Christchurch City Council demolished the 70-year-old Edgeware Pool, despite passionate opposition from the local community.

The rebuild comes after years of campaigning and fundraising by St Albans Pavilion and Pool Incorporated.

Chair of the group, Lynne O'Keefe, said the small group kept the rebuild alive for many years to get to this point.

"This is a really big moment because it has been years in the making, it's been a small group that has kept it alive, but there's also more and more people coming into it now.

"There's also been incredible support from tradespeople, that have a connection to the pool."

A building consent was lodged at the end of 2024 and construction will hopefully begin within the next few months, she said.

It was hoped the $3 million facility, once completed, would help local children improve their swimming skills.

"So we've got a school round the corner, so they can take their children, [once a] week, every year, swimming.

"But, if those children don't have easy, continuous access to water, they just don't gain any confidence," she said.

The new facility will include a 25-metre pool, a learners pool and a manu pool.

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