At the Save Big Splash community meeting last night, ACT Greens Deputy Leader Jo Clay released a listening report which found overwhelming preference for Big Splash to remain a water park and a public expectation for government to take action.
The report comes ahead of today's expected deadline for the current owner to provide a response to Access Canberra's notification that the Territory Planning Authority is considering terminating the Crown Lease.
"Canberrans have been clear-they want Big Splash to remain a water park," Ms Clay said.
"It's disappointing the ACT Labor Government didn't move faster to address this issue and start taking action when the owner was first in breach of the lease.
"Labor's slow action has led to people facing two summers without Canberra's only water park. It's no surprise that this listening report found that Canberrans want action from the government.
"Canberrans want to see government move to help the site reopen-and many respondents said they want to see government investment varying from funding through to public ownership.
"Last night's meetings echoed these concerns, with the Labor Minister for Sport and Recreation telling the group she also wants to bring Big Splash back and make it even better.
"Government must listen to what the community wants and provide solutions that see Big Splash reopen as soon as possible."
Key findings:
- 100% of survey respondents said they would visit Big Splash if it was open this summer.
- Vast majority of all respondents want Big Splash to remain a water park with slide. When asked what action government should take, majority responded with retaining the site for community facilities and the water park.
- Respondents who wanted additional facilities onsite predominately favoured more pools-with suggestions for indoor pools, hydrotherapy pools, heated outdoor pools, a dive pool, a wave pool and splash pools.
- There is a public desire for Big Splash to retain facilities for all-ages and to be open to the public throughout the year.
More than 100 people provided input into the listening report and data was collected via social media, an online and paper survey, post-it notes at stalls and events, emails and letters to Ms Clay's office and visual drawings of what people would like onsite.
The listening report is publicly available on the ACT Greens website.
A community petition with over 4,500 signatures, sponsored by Ms Clay, calls on the ACT Government to terminate the Crown lease, restore public control over the site and redevelop the site with an aquatic facility closes Tuesday 24 February.
Background
In December 2024, Ms Clay backed a community petition when Big Splash first failed to reopen for summer. She also led a parliamentary vote to retain the site's zoning for a community facility.
Ms Clay has escalated calls for intervention since, including calling on Government to take compliance action.
