On the 4th April 2026, 2GB Breakfast Radio host Ben Fordham did a segment on the huge cost blowout for the Richmond Pool project.
Here’s my commentary:
Richmond pool is at the end of its life, and few would argue that an upgrade is not needed. A recent visit taught Councillors that the main pool is leaking 15,000L of water a day.
But Council has a duty to manage its finances wisely. Any proposed improvement can’t be rubber-stamped “at any price”.
Back in September 2021, the last State government pledged $5billion to infrastructure projects in 15 local government areas in western Sydney in a scheme called “WestInvest”.
Eligible Councils were caught on the hop, asked to suggest big ticket infrastructure projects with a limited timeframe. Hawkesbury Council nominated a list that included Woodbury Reserve, Turnbull Oval, North Richmond Community Centre, Fernadell Park, Tamplin Field, Richmond Pool and others and ultimately received nearly $98M of funding across twelve projects. Councillors were not consulted first.
Unfortunately, there was a huge problem. Almost all of the costings estimated for the builds were wrong. So the then-Mayor, State MP and General Manager staged photo-ops and posed smiling alongside glossy architectural posters of the projects – visions in curved glass and steel. Nothing was mentioned about extra debt or whether we could sustain the ongoing running costs these projects would incur.
The Richmond Pool project has now become the most acute example. We were told that the whole thing could be built for $30M. Then it became $60M. Now it’s $73.1M. My gut tells me it will go higher still. Residents deserve an upgraded pool, but at what point is the price too high, given Council’s financial position and attempts to impose a 39% SRV?
I had been vocally supportive of the project when it was being built with State government money. I was disappointed and cautious when I was told that the project needed extra money. At the April meeting I withdrew my support when a majority of my colleagues, responding to some of the strongest warnings of staff I’ve encountered that the price had skyrocketed, actually voted to expand the scope of the project by expanding it from a 6-lane indoor pool complex to 8 lanes, adding more millions to the cost.
Council already has an 8 lane pool complex at the Oasis at South Windsor. Now is not the time to gold-plate a project that was already at the upper limit of what represents the frugal management of public funds.
I hate to say it, but what happens when what I warn about in the SMH story happens? When the price gets to $80M, or more? How much is too much for what will undoubtedly be a first class piece of community infrastructure when it opens?
That’s the question that concerned me when I voted against the gold-plating of the project. I hope I’m wrong.
Here is the de-paywalled version of the SMH story.
Here is the video of the announcement of the pool redevelopment project. It hasn’t aged well.