Teenagers using the new Roxburgh outdoor pool inappropriately and as a hangout after hours are not going to ruin all the hard work by the volunteer committee this summer.

While it’s been a challenging season for the committee struggling to find lifeguards to work onsite for two seasons now, the Ida Macdonald Roxburgh pool Punawai Ora has been popular with locals, holiday makers and fruit pickers.

Committee member Chris Buckley said some Saturdays there had been 150 people at the pool, and many families had bought season passes.

But a lack of supervision meant anybody under 18 had to be accompanied by an adult, and this had led to some individuals deciding to push the boundaries by gaining entry illegally, as well as using the facility after hours for their own antics.

The pool committee posted on social media this week saying they had caught certain youngsters on security cameras, jumping off the back fence into the pool, using the covers for platforms, and even cutting their hair in the changing rooms.

There has also been intimidating, bullying and harassing behaviour towards other pool users, and the sharing of membership fobs to allow unauthorised entry.

It has been a busy but challenging season for the committee running the Roxburgh pool. PHOTO: CODC

Chris said the kids had been spoken to and were generally good kids “but just needed some direction. We don’t want it to get to the stage where there’s an injury.”

The new $3million community-owned and operated pool was currently under review and the plan was to transfer it to the Central Otago District Council (CODC), after the committee recently decided it would be too expensive to continue running it themselves.

But no decisions would be made until the community was consulted through the Long Term Plan from March.

The new pool was opened in December 2023 after two decades of fundraising, including $500,000 from council towards construction.

The 89-year-old former pool was demolished in 2022, preparing the way for the new one on the same site behind Roxburgh Area School, on land owned by the council.

It was open to the public from December to March.

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