The Dunedin City Council needs to be upfront with Mosgiel residents, and tell them their new swimming pool is not the "first cab off the rank", Cr John Bezett told this week's pre-draft budget meetings.
While a council working party had considered the council's aquatic facilities, the latest report from aquatic services said "nothing happens for some time" in terms of the pool, he said.
Cr Bezett's comments ran counter to those by Cr Colin Weatherall late last week.
Cr Weatherall, the working party chairman, said then a $11.5 million swimming complex at Mosgiel remained the priority project for the working party, despite a staff report to this week's annual plan meeting that seemed to resile from the idea.
In November, the working party concluded more than a year of work by recommending a new Mosgiel swimming complex be built to address overcrowding at the Moana Pool complex in Dunedin.
The Mosgiel pool would serve the entire southern catchment of Dunedin, and could be built in three to five years' time.
A second option was a $13.2 million upgrade of Moana Pool, which Cr Weatherall believed could follow in 10 to 15 years.
Cr Bezett told this week's meeting: "In all honesty, I can't see anything happening on this project for some time."
He believed an upgrade at Moana Pool, to cater for an increase in people swimming laps, would be better, as the University of Otago and most schools were in Dunedin, rather than Mosgiel.
The meeting voted to note additional analysis was needed before a decision; to defer a decision for 12 months while that was done; and to note funding for any improvement was unlikely for three to five years. It also included a $5-a-lane usage fee for swimming clubs and groups in the pre-draft annual plan for consultation.
• The St Clair salt water pool will continue to open three weeks before Labour Weekend, after the meeting decided against reverting to a Labour Weekend opening; also subject to consultation.
