Does Council fear accountability or not care enough about Lambton Pool?

The recently formed We Love Lambton Pool Alliance, wrote to all 12 Councillors, the Lord Mayor and the Chief Executive Officer of City of Newcastle as well as the State MPs for Wallsend and Newcastle on 14 December 2022. The letter raised a range of issues regarding the financing, management and future planning for Lambton Park War Memorial Swimming Centre (Lambton Pool).

Readers will have seen the letter when it was subsequently published in January issue of The Local. It is now over three months since this formal letter was sent and we have received no response or acknowledgement to this correspondence from the Lord Mayor, the CEO or ten of the 12 Councillors. This has been extremely disappointing. No Ward 3 Councillor has responded at all, and the Deputy Lord Mayor responded only after being specifically named in a social media post 66 days after the original letter was sent.

It is basic professional conduct and courtesy to acknowledge and respond to formal business correspondence. For them to not acknowledge or respond to our formal letter is at best disrespectful.

The We Love Lambton Pool Alliance consists of four long-established, well-respected community organisations, and the Facebook group with over 800 members. Together these groups represent thousands of constituents that expect and deserve a formal response to the correspondence.

I can only speculate as to why they are so reluctant to provide a response to the letter. Is it that they fear being held accountable, or do they not care enough about the future of the Lambton Pool and the people that use it to formulate a considered response?

Anna Glasby - convenor

We Love Lambton Pool Alliance