Bluff Pool
The township of Bluff is perched on a tiny peninsula at the bottom of the South Island. It is literally surrounded by sea and with fishing one of the town's main industries, swimming is more than just a pastime to the town's residents - it is a vital life skill.
For generations, locals have learned to swim at the Bluff Pool, which was opened in 1973. The pool has always been a hub for the community: a place where locals meet, relax, learn and train. It is one of the town's few community facilities.
Little wonder then, that a 2008 proposal from the Invercargill City Council (ICC) to debate the future of the pool raised immediate concerns from locals.
There was concern any effort to remove the pool would leave the community without one of its favourite places and force the residents to travel for potentially life-saving swimming lessons.
In 2009, residents rallied for the future of the pool, with a large number of submissions supporting its retention being lodged as part of the ICC's Long-Term Council Community Plan. A public meeting in July that year saw more than 100 people turn out (on what's remembered as ‘a bitterly cold evening') to support the pool. Their feelings were abundantly clear to the ICC managers who attended the meeting and the council softened its approach, agreeing to let the Bluff Community Board have input into what swimming facilities the town required and how they should be funded, operated and maintained.
The board swung into action, along with the Bluff Community Charitable Trust, and led locals on what would become a two-year-long campaign to save the pool.
This began with a series of meetings with the ICC, after which the community board compiled a plan to keep the Bluff Pool open. Part of this was rejected by the council. Undeterred, the board readdressed some issues. Three months later, a revised plan that would see the pool owned by a new charitable trust was presented to and approved by the council.
Locals were delighted and a mammoth fundraising campaign was launched while the board, through Venture Southland, managed to procure funding for a feasibility study on the pool.
The study identified three options for the future of the pool - from a basic upgrade at a cost of $550,000, to a rebuild costed at just over $3 million. The community is yet to decide which option it will proceed with.
The fundraising campaign has given the community a positive focus. More than $196,000 has been raised, including $35,000 that was generated through the sale of a calendar in which local fishermen (and one woman) bared all for the cause.
Work will begin in 2011, much to the delight of everyone in the small, southern community.
Download the Bluff Community Board's Best Practice Award entry here. (pdf)
