Pool closure upsets families

The school holiday closure of the public indoor pools in Masterton has left at least one family group high and dry.

Waireka Collings and Pania Matthews said they had taken their young Masterton family group to the Genesis Energy Recreation Centre pools yesterday as part of a reward for the household chores the half dozen children had completed.

"It wasn't until we saw the pools were empty that we realised they were closed," Ms Matthews said.

There had been a woman and four children from Wellington turned away at about the same time yesterday, she said, and "other mums before us" left disappointed at the closure.

The two women and some of the children in their group each registered their displeasure in feedback forms at Masterton District Council after the group left the pools.

The pools had been closed on April 15 and are expected to re-open on May 6 while floor repairs are made in the leisure pool, where grout had deteriorated and left sharp-edged and broken tiles that had cut the feet of some swimmers.

The women were told there had been ample public warning about the closure, Ms Matthews said, but it was the timing of the closure that grated most.

"They are the only indoor pools in the region and we suggested they close the pools during the school term.

"We were told the pools are closed every three years for maintenance and it was either the swim schools or us.

"But surely the schools would be easier to notify in advance about a closure than the general public - I mean they have three years to tell them - and the pools could have been be left open in the holidays."