Over 4,000 Greater Bendigo homeowners have registered their private swimming pools and spas online to meet the November 1 deadline as required by the Victorian Government legislation introduced in December 2019.
City of Greater Bendigo Safe and Healthy Environments Manager Caroline Grylls congratulated all residents who have met the November 1, 2020 deadline.
“The City received close to 1000 registrations in October alone and we are now asking residents to be patient while we work through the process of verifying the information they have provided,” Ms Grylls said.
“When this work is completed the City will contact everyone who has registered their pool or spa barrier in writing to confirm the date of construction and the applicable pool barrier standard.
“While we’ve had a great response so far, we know that there are still residents who are yet to register their swimming pools and spas.
“We don’t want them to face any unnecessary penalties so I encourage those who haven’t already, to commence the process as soon as possible to ensure their pool barriers are compliant with the new legislation.”
Under the new mandatory requirements all residential swimming pools and spas that fall within the requirements of the Act must have a compliant barrier in place and must be registered with their local Council.
Broadly, these include all permanent pools and spas and most relocatable pools and relocatable spas capable of holding a depth of water greater than 300mm.
The new legislation has introduced mandatory requirements for all Victorian Councils to establish and maintain a register of all private swimming pools and spas and residents must undertake the registration process online via the City’s website at https://www.bendigo.vic.gov.au/poolregister
As part of the new registration process, pool and spa barriers will need to be assessed by registered private building surveyors or inspectors and this is up to the pool or spa owner to organise. The inspectors will issue certificates of compliance or non-compliance, which owners will need to then lodge with the City. Certificates of non-compliance will also be acted upon.
Inspection compliance certificates will be required to be lodged with Council every four years.
