Councillors vote for East Pool upgrade, business case for Splash

Published on 12 August 2025

Whanganui District Council’s elected representatives have voted to implement a recommendation from the citizens’ assembly to refurbish and upgrade the Whanganui East Pool and develop a business case for a future Splash Centre upgrade. The Splash Centre upgrade will be considered during the council’s next long-term plan process.

The decision came after elected representatives heard recommendations from Whanganui District Council’s first-ever citizens’ assembly, a representative group of 40 community members selected at random with demographics taken into account.

The citizens’ assembly group met over five sessions to discuss and explore options for outdoor swimming facilities in Whanganui.

Mayor Andrew Tripe thanked the citizens’ assembly for their work, saying it gave elected members a clear understanding of the community’s aspirations for Whanganui’s aquatic facilities.

“The citizens’ assembly group was reflective of the wider community – divided on whether to keep Whanganui East Pool open, with a majority strongly in favour of retaining it.”

“Whanganui East Pool is the pool that doesn’t want to close,” Mayor Andrew says. “Its future has been debated for many years and today we have voted to give it the attention it needs.

“As a number of councillors noted, it’s important to have vibrancy and a sense of identity in our suburbs as well as in the central city and facilities like this contribute to that.

“In saying that, heat maps show people throughout the city visit Whanganui East Pool so this upgrade will benefit residents right across Whanganui,” Mayor Andrew says.

Refurbishments and upgrades to Whanganui East Pool will involve replacing the aged plant and equipment, lining the pool to prevent leaks, installing heating equipment and upgrading the leisure facilities. Work will occur outside of the summer swim season to avoid disruption.

In the recent annual plan, $2M of funding was set aside in case it was needed for work relating to a citizens’ assembly recommendation – this means the $2M of funding is already included in the recent 2.2 percent average rates increase.

A business case for an upgrade to the Splash Centre will go to the council for consideration in 2027 as part of the long-term plan process, with the community consulted on their views.

“Without citizens’ assembly input, the council wouldn’t be exploring upgrading the Splash Centre to make it a bigger, better facility.

“We appreciate the energy and ideas they brought to the process.”