Liverpool City Council is looking to build a brand new aquatic centre at Hammondville, but residents are worried that key public assets may be sold to private investment to ensure the project goes ahead.
The aquatic centre has been promised by husband and wife duo Ned Mannoun and Tina Ayyad, the Liverpool City Council Mayor and Holsworthy MP respectively. The assurance was made pre-election though, with the new state government, elected by Chris Minns, reluctant to deliver on the promise made by two Liberal candidates.
Moorebank Sports Club has acquired two former sites owned by the Council, raising approximately $7.5 million, but more money is needed to make the project a reality, with a $50 million price tag slapped onto the development.
As a result, the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting the Holsworthy Early Education and Care Centre and Moorebank Community Centre are being tossed up as the next sites to go under the hammer.
The aquatic centre is being floated as a new community hub, which would see the library, childcare and community facilities consolidated within the precinct, but these plans are not concrete. The precinct, located at Hammondville, will allegedly comprise a new aquatic and leisure centre, installation of a hybrid football field and upgrades to existing sports club facilities, but the other facilities are not locked in.
Councillors are concerned about community consultation. Liverpool Labor MP Charishma Kaliyanda claims that the wider Council only heard about the master plan in March.
“Nobody’s contesting that there was discussion around this type of project in some way, shape or form for a long period of time,” she says.
“However, a master plan does not constitute a resolution of council saying that we put X number of funds towards this project.”
Despite concerns of Liverpool Councillors, the motion to progress the development passed with seven votes to four. Only one Labor Councillor voted in favour of the centre.
Image: Liverpool Listens.
