One of the unmistakeable effects of global warming in Australia is that summer will get longer - and hotter. The bushfire season will start earlier and last a lot longer. Our schools are becoming meticulous in insisting that pupils wear hats and the modern school playground has many shade areas.
It seerms incomprehensible that in its plans for the redevelopment of the old Olympic pool, North Sydney council is proposing to scrap plans for a shade areas over the children's pool. This is a massive develoment with a cost of $58 million and includes upgrades to all the existing pools, a " family leisure " pool and a new grandstand.
The reason for deleting this important safety feature is concern that its plans will be rejected on heritage grounds. The plans that have been set aside called for a steel framed shade structure and the planning committee feared that this would draw the ire of heritage supporters.
It seems that because the original pool was not shaded from the sun any move to provde this cover now will be considered a breach of the heritage guidelines. That was an entirely different era when young people were urged to get out in the sunshine to improve their health. The beach scene was a mass of people trying to improve their tan by rubbing in coconut oil. Most were oblivious to the risk of skin cancer that sun exposure caused.
The incidence of deadly melanoma is the highest in the world here. The Cancer Council is very concerned that this pool upgrade looks likely to go ahead without shade protection. Much of their budget is spent urging Australian people to take precautions against exposure to the sun and it is disturbing to see a shade cover rejected on heritage grounds.
The heritage watch dogs do a great job seeing that memories of our past are preserved for today's generation to enjoy, but their powers to stop progress definitely need limits. It would make more sense if the medical fraternity was the party refusing approval of the Olympic pool upgrade because the plan did not feature a shade cover.
If the issue comes down to a decision between preserving the outlook of the past or providing a valid health cover there is no doubt which thinking people would consider the most important. In this instance, that decision was not left to the arbiter. The council just threw up its hands in contemplation of the uproar and back biting and scrubbed out plans for the shade cover.
Hopefully, that children's pool upgrade will not progress further without that shade cover being an integral part of the design !
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