Together with the support of the community we secured a $2.2 million NSW State Government grant for the Dawn Fraser Baths to fund urgent improvements to Balmain’s iconic local pool.
Thank you to the thousands of people who signed our petition. This community support helped us to address a funding shortfall at the Inner West Council and ensure the project could proceed.
Renovations are well underway and the structural works to rebuild the pavilions is now in place.The upgrades will focus on the ageing infrastructure surrounding the pool, including creating easier access, more change rooms, lighting and raising the boardwalk.
Unfortunately, there have been significant delays and the scheduled opening has been pushed back 3-4 months to early December. Regardless, I'm so pleased we were able to work with the Council to help fix the funding shortfall by securing the additional millions needed to refurbish our community pool.
Beyond this renovation, I’ve also been working to protect water quality at Dawn Fraser Baths from the government's Western Harbour Tunnel project. That proposal could see 142,500 cubic metres of toxic sludge dredged up just metres from the Baths. See coverage in the Sydney Morning Herald here.
Thanks to Balmain’s industrial past, this sediment is contaminated with dangerous chemicals which could impact the health of swimmers as well as marine life. I’m pressing the government to investigate other options to minimise pollution in our Harbour and keep Dawny swimmable.
We will keep you updated on the progress of all this work and I hope to see you down at Dawny in December!
