Councils to charge fees to check pool fence safety
Thousands of Central Coast pool owners face paying $95-$150 to have a council safety inspection on their pool fence.
There are an estimated 20,000 pool owners on the coast, and the charges are part of both Gosford and Wyong councils’ new swimming pool barrier inspection program.
Under the new measures, the more than 11,700 pools in the Gosford LGA and about 10,000 in Wyong LGA eventually could be checked.
In Gosford the first inspection will cost pool owners $150 and if a second inspection is required it will cost another $100.
Wyong Council will charge $95 for the first inspection and $100 for a second.
However, neither council has plans at this stage to inspect every pool.
Instead they will concentrate on pools in multi-occupancy properties, properties about to be sold or leased, where complaints have been made or where a pool owner requests an inspection.
Random inspections will be conducted in some areas.
Other councils around NSW will have to have similar inspection programs because of new State Government rules on pool safety.
Stephen Goodworth, Gosford Council’s acting manager of education and compliance, saidGosford Council would focus on high risk pools on properties with more than two dwellings on the site.
“Then down the track we will looking at discretionary inspections on older pools ,with the possibility of turning up at one particular street at a time for example,” Mr Goodworth said.
Tourist or visitor accommodation and multi-unit developments also face mandatory inspections every three years.
Homeowners planning to sell or rent a property will be required to get a compliance certificate for their pool.