A SCHOOL staff member has blasted a shock price rise at Wallsend Swimming Pool after being told the cost of hiring lanes for the annual carnival doubled from $350 to $700 in just a year.
Cindy Carolan was told lane hire would be charged at $20 per lane, per hour in the 50 metre pool, a move she said would unfairly burden families and inevitably affect multiple schools in the area.
"I emailed [BlueFit] back and said this hire charge seems steep; it has doubled in price, no response," she said.
When Ms Carolan contacted City of Newcastle about the fee hike, she said she was told the council had control over the entry fee, not the hire charge.
A tender was awarded to BlueFit in 2023 to manage the council's five inland pools for seven years, with two seven-year extension options.
BlueFit replied to Ms Carolan's email after it was questioned by the Newcastle Herald.
BlueFit deputy chief executive officer Brett McEwin acknowledged that in previous seasons, hire fees "may not have been applied consistently".
"Moving forward, BlueFit will work closely with local schools to ensure hire fees and the $2 entry initiative are implemented correctly and fairly," he said.
"Our priority is to support schools and the community to access aquatic facilities with confidence, fairness and transparency."
Mr McEwin said BlueFit was committed to the safe, affordable and community-focused operation of all Newcastle pools.
"We welcome the opportunity to address community concerns regarding hire fees and the City of Newcastle's $2 pool entry trial for the 2025-26 season at Wallsend and other inland pools, excluding Lambton," he said.
Mr McEwin said hire fees "remain unchanged" from the 2024-25 season, charging $20 per lane, per hour in the 50m pool and $10 per lane, per hour in the 25m pool.
The pool tender decision was delegated to CEO Jeremy Bath after Labor councillors declared conflicts of interest in the matter, meaning a quorum of councillors could not be reached to vote on awarding a tender.
At the time, City of Newcastle's seven Labor councillors recused themselves from a confidential debate on awarding a contract to lease and operate the five council pools because they said interactions with an unnamed politician had created a conflict of interest.
Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery said it seemed "illogical" that entry fees to all pools but Lambton had just been reduced to $2, but pool hire for schools had doubled.
"Why have lane hire fees doubled in our inland pools? Does council's pool privatisation allow the council to wash their hands of their responsibility to keep pool access affordable?" she said.
"My fears about the consequences of privatisation of our council pools remain; it seems that many of the community's concerns have now come true."
A City of Newcastle spokeswoman said she understood that BlueFit had reached out to the school.
"BlueFit is currently reviewing how school hire fees have been applied historically and how they will apply them moving forward, and will work with schools in the transition to its updated fees over time," she said.
The council spokeswoman said it was "misleading" to focus only on this year's increase in pool hire fees for school carnivals when considering the overall cost to a school to hold a swimming carnival.
"Last year, the school was charged $3.10 per attending student," she said.
"This year, they will be charged only $2.
"The reason the hire fee required to reserve the entire pool has been increased is that the previous fee was so low it didn't even cover the cost of paying the wages of the lifeguards supervising the students in the pool."
Ms Carolan said doubling the cost of a school swimming carnival would hurt parents, especially those with multiple children who could end up spending $60 on one event.
"If they'd gone up slightly, fair enough, but we're talking doubled," she said.
"All we're hearing at the moment in the media is about how the council has put the cost of pool entry down to $2. I think that's fantastic, but are they getting the money somewhere else?"
The $2 entry trial at four of Newcastle's five inland pools launched at the end of September.
Just in time for summer, Newcastle councillors approved the $2 trial at Beresfield, Mayfield, Stockton and Wallsend pools for the 2025-26 season.
The council decided not to include Lambton pool in the trial to "reduce the risk of overcrowding".