Ed,

Being a reasonably frequent user of the Grafton Olympic pool, I cannot express just how pleased I was to read that Clarence Valley Council was at last commencing an upgrade to our old and very much out of date facility.

My joy however was very short lived when I read further and discovered just how the upgrade was to be carried out.

I will stand corrected if anything I state is incorrect, but at the moment I understand that Stage One will include the removal of the diving pool and the 50m pool and in its place a 25m indoor heated pool and a child’s splash pool will be installed using the funding that is available.

Now you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that this is the wrong way to tackle the refurbishment.

At present we have an adequate 25m heated pool at South Grafton that has sufficed and will continue to suffice for some years.

With the removal of the 50m pool and not knowing how many months or years it will take for Stage Two to commence, the complex will not have the ability to host school swimming carnivals, squad training, amateur swimming club and will also affect many other sporting bodies.

Surely with one’s logical thinking cap on, wouldn’t the 50m pool be the project to tackle first to avoid the absolute chaos that the planned one is sure to cause.

I am aware that written submissions have been forwarded to Clarence Valley Council stating similar thoughts to mine and we can only hope that common sense prevails.

Toni Ensbey, Grafton