Wyndham residents have taken to AquaPulse like a duck to water, with the centre boasting one of the highest learn-to-swim enrolments in the state in only its first year of operation.
More than 3600 children have been enrolled in swimming lessons since the centre opened and there are now 869 classes a week conducted by 45 teachers.
About 250 students enrol each month.
AquaPulse, formerly Wyndham Leisure and Events Centre, opened on June 27 last year following a multimillion-dollar facelift.
Sam Benfell, of pool operator Western Leisure Services, said demand for the learn-to-swim classes since then had exceeded all expectations. “We were aiming for about 4000 students by July 2017,” she said. “It’s been a huge achievement for the team and it’s great that we’re obviously filling a community need.
“It reflects how much these facilities are required … and we need more.”
Ms Benfell said the council planned to look at building a third swimming centre once certain targets had been met by AquaPulse.
“[But] no one anticipated the success so quickly,” she said.
Wyndham council allocated $65,000 in its 2016-17 draft budget for a feasibility study for Wyndham’s third swimming facility – after AquaPulse and the Werribee outdoor pool – to be built in Sayers Road, Tarneit.
But that study was one of a number of projects to be cut from the budget after the Essential Services Commission knocked back the council’s request to increase rates by 4.5 per cent, instead of the state government-allowed maximum of 2.5 per cent.
Mayor Adele Hegedich said almost one- million people had visited either AquaPulse or Eagle Stadium this financial year.
And she said the number of people using AquaPulse in just under a year was something for the council to be proud of.
But she questioned whether the council would be able to fast-track construction of a third swimming facility.
“Can we afford to bring it forward in a rate- capping environment?” she said.
