Sport & recreation  |  1 Sep 2022

Children who regularly use Christchurch City Council’s swimming pools will benefit from a new pool membership that is being introduced from 1 October.

A new child pool membership will give children unlimited access to the city’s public swimming pools for $367 a year or $7.70 a week.

“We are introducing this new membership option to provide better value for children who use our pools on a regular basis,” says Council Head of Recreation, Sports and Events Nigel Cox.

“The membership is aimed at making it easy and affordable for children to use our pools because we want them to have the skills they need to be confident and safe in and around water, and swimming is also a great way for kids to stay active,” Mr Cox says.

From 1 October, the Council is also introducing:

  • A Slide Pass for Jellie Park and Taiora QEII, which includes entry to both the hydroslides and pools. Currently, pool entry and hydroslide entry are separately charged.
  • New multi-visit passes for Under 5s activities – Tumbletimes, Bubbletimes and Sleepytimes – and for the Southern Centre. These passes will provide entry for 10 visits.
  • A 50 per cent discount for casual and multi-visit pass entry fees for people who are Hāpai Access or KiwiAble Leisure cardholders.
  • A new group fitness multi-visit pass that will provide entry for 10 visits to group fitness classes, including spin and aqua. Currently different fitness classes require separate concession cards.

There will be some increases to the fees charged at the Council’s sport and recreation facilities from 1 October, as signalled in the Annual Plan 2022/23.

“The increases are to cover the cost of the services we provide, and we’ve tried to keep them as low as possible so residents can stay active and connected with their communities. The fee increase is generally less than $1 for casual entries,” Mr Cox says.

“The other changes we are implementing are aimed at simplifying things for our customers or at making certain things more affordable and accessible.”

Find out more about the new sport and recreation fees.