A GROUP of about 100 people who attended a public meeting last week have agreed to allow the Hepburn Pool to be fenced.
The meeting supported the development of a fencing masterplan but rejected any options that would compromise the visual experience of the historical site. All fencing would have to be accompanied by plant screening.
About 10 people spoke at the meeting with former ABC broadcaster and community consultant Lynne Haultain held at The Palais.
Ms Haultain said that she would have a report ready by the end of the month for the Lands Minister Rob Hulls.
Ms Haultain described the Hepburn Pool as a "mess" after 10 years of meetings failed to resolve public safety issues. Public liability insurance was withdrawn in 1996.
Ms Haultain said reinsurance was important.
She said the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority and Department of Sustainability and Environment were prepared to insure the pool if it was fenced, had signs, there was improved access from the carpark and the Hepburn
Shire Council made regular visits.
"We want to work towards a hybrid solution," she said.
Gary Lawrence of Hepburn Springs said he was concerned about setting a precedent if the Hepburn Pool was fenced.
"Will the Blow Hole be fenced off, and gold mines?" he asked.
"The pool was developed as a place for children to swim. About 700 children got their Herald Sun learn-to-swim certificate (at the pool)."
Community member Lisa Gervasoni asked if Jubilee Lake or Lake Daylesford were also going to be fenced because they were "hybrids".
"There are that many places that are hybrids," she said.
`'Do you want to see a world that is ugly fenced."
Actor and resident Samuel Johnson said fencing the pool was public liability "gone bad".
"A pool you can't swim in is like a pub with no beer," he said.
Ms Haultain said other lakes mentioned at the meeting were not part of her brief.
"I have no access to technical reports. My role is to talk to people and to listen," she said.
The council's deputy mayor Bill McClenaghan, who met with Ms Haultain the day after the public meeting, said the "sticking point" was the fence.
"This is the best opportunity to fix this problem that we have ever had. I'm unsure if the community knows this," he said.
"We are very close to getting insurance but the fence is the cutting point."
Cr McClenaghan said there would be one more opportunity to get the key players together once the insurance report was available.
"We are just trying to fix the problem," he said.
Ms Haultain was given a list of demands and positions on the pool including: Hepburn Pool is a natural waterway not a municipal pool; a maintenance and landscape plan needs to be developed and funded to restore the site to
its original structure; the pool should be drained and weeds and sediment soil removed from the clay base, which should occur every two years; an upstream rehabilitation program and sediment trap/wetlands riparian system must
be implemented; and community information signs must be reinstalled.
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