Fundraising signs for the Motueka community pool, a campaign which has been running for more than 20 years. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
More than 20 years after the Motueka community began fundraising for an indoor, heated swimming pool people are still waiting to see it come to fruition.
There has been no lack of support, with half a million dollars raised by residents and various organisations but people are now starting to ask where the money has gone.
Motueka woman Jane Cumming swims with friends in the estuary during summer, and was part of a group that used the high school pool for exercise during early mornings.
The 87-year-old has always liked the idea of an indoor pool to do laps in - so she donated $100 to the community pool project, back in the 90s.
"It was $100 I think...there was a sign up in one of the shops in Motueka, I was very happy to make a donation."
But decades later, she was still waiting for a pool to be built and she hopes she will get the chance to use it.
"To see it happen and for me to be able to use it would be just wonderful.
"I certainly remember over 20 years ago going to meetings, for where the pool would be sited, how we'd raise the money and who would pay for it."
Motueka Pool Committee chairperson Fred Hickling has been involved with the project since the 1990s. He said the idea for a pool first came about when the town's recreation centre opened 35 years ago.
"It was written in the local newspaper that what we need now is a swimming pool next to it and this was in 1987, so we're still waiting."
The community was "extremely frustrated" as people's donations were still sitting in the bank after two decades, he said.
"There's been so many setbacks for a number of different reasons. I've got to the stage now where I think, what am I doing here? But then again if I give up now, I've wasted all the time I've already put in, so you just keep going."
Hickling said early plans to build a pool facility were put on hold after flooding in 2010 damaged a number of roads across the district.
A subsequent plan to heat and enclose the Motueka High School Pool did not proceed as the Tasman District Council could not invest in a facility on property it did not own.
The current plan was to build a standalone, multi-pool facility.
The pool project has featured in three of the Tasman District Council's long-term plans, and there have been three separate feasibility studies on it - the results of the most recent study are yet to be shared publicly.
Fellow committee member Ross Loveridge said Motueka was the largest town in the South Island without a covered, heated swimming pool.
"We don't need more studies to identify the need or the community support - both are well known."
Motueka Lions Club president Jim Fry said the club got behind the project some years ago - deciding to fund a hydrotherapy pool in the complex as their centenary project back in 2017.
They have been raising money by selling raffle tickets, Christmas cakes, kindling and potatoes - with all proceeds going towards the hydrotherapy pool.
Along with a contribution from the Motueka Lionesses they had raised about $250,000 but were now fielding questions about where that money has gone.
"We've been raising it from the community, for the community and if we're not going to do it in the near future we're going to have to start giving that money that we've raised back to the community, because it's not ours."
The 86-year-old also hoped he would be able to use the pool once it was built.
"I'll be a starter for it I think by the time we finally get it built, if I can reach 90."
Motueka Rotary's Paul Heywood said the pool was their major fundraising project - the group donated $8000 to get things moving in 2018.
They had since held a golf tournament, raising a further $19,500 for the pool.
"I went to every shop in Motueka, every business in Motueka - including a number of orchardists around the area - and everyone was supportive, everyone wants to know what's going on."
Heywood said the project was essential for Motueka and the club wanted to see commitment and progress from the Tasman District Council.
"I believe this is urgent, it's been in a vacuum for far too long."
Council's community infrastructure group manager Richard Kirby said the recent feasibility report found the facility needed to be bigger than originally planned, which has increased the estimated cost to around $16.5 million.
As the funding needed to be reconsidered, Kirby said it will need to be looked at as part of the next long term plan in July 2024.
"It hasn't been forgotten about and the council is pretty keen to support the community in progressing it, the other challenge that we do have is finding an appropriate site for it, we've identified two or three sites and obviously we need to try and finalise that."
A report detailing proposed locations and costs will be presented to council in the coming months.