Still fighting for the pool are, from left: Alison Hamilton, Megan Bourke, Judy Patterson and Katherine Luketina.

​The wrecking ball is lying in wait for Hamilton's century-old Municipal Pools.

Hamilton City Council is set to seek permission to bowl the complex - expected to cost about $1m - and return the area to green space, despite a long-running push to get people swimming there again.

A resource consent application for the complex's destruction is due in two or three weeks' time.

DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF The current state of the Municipal Pools on Victoria St.

Vocal opponent Sink or Swim says the pool site holds generations of swimming memories, and new pools there could help swimming clubs fighting for lane space.

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The group has been pushing for redevelopment since 2012 when the gates were locked for good, spokeswoman Katherine Luketina said, and there seems to be "a groundswell of public opinion" in favour.

SUPPLIED Lobby group Sink or Swim is pushing for a revamp of the Municipal Pools and has a concept drawing of how it could look (file photo).

Hamilton needs a pool in that location "so that ... the site, can be used as a public, open-air swimming pool for the people of Hamilton, for its quickly-growing population, for another hundred years".

The group wants two new pools up to current standards, and modern changing sheds and clubrooms - and it has architect-drawn plans.

Previous fundraising attempts for around $6.3m were stymied by a lack of council support for the project, and the group is told it would now cost about $10m.

STUFF The Municipal Pools have been shut since 2012, and Hamilton City Council formally closed them - by resolution - in 2015 (file photo).

Council backing for the project would be essential for funding, for example a Lottery grant, money from the Lion Foundation, or even Momentum Waikato, Luketina said.

The first Sink or Swim heard of the imminent application was a call from a planner who council had appointed to run the demolition process, Luketina said.

The planner and council staffers met with the lobby group of concerned swimmers, who are mostly regular athletic swimmers.

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/STUFF Hamilton's Municipal Pools are more than a century old and $1 million has been set aside to demolish the complex (file photo).

They said the council's application to demolish the site would be publicly notified in the coming month, Luketina said, so anyone would be able to share their view with council.

Sink or Swim presented information such as past patronage figures, the hundred-year history, and the benefits of pools near schools and on a bus route.

The current pools, changing sheds, the clubrooms, and the like are "past their use-by date", Luketina said, but the grandstands have historic value, as does "people's intergenerational, long engagement with the pool".

Council declined to put anyone forward for interview, saying it would make a statement when the consent was lodged.

The organisation expects to lodge its resource consent application in two or three weeks' time, a statement said.

"Our resource consent application relates to our plan to demolish the complex and return it to green space," it said.

"We ... will make a statement at that time. At this point we're not in a position to release documentation as it's not completed."

The pools were closed by council resolution in mid-2015, a statement said, and "no longer meet any of the relevant safety legislation or criteria for a public facility of this kind".

"Refurbishing or replacing them would incur a very significant cost - and would likely require demolition anyway. Demolition of the complex, as proposed, would see the site returned to green space, and leave the council with an opportunity to progress another project or facility on that site in future."

A "one-off cost of $1m to demolish the Municipal Pool" is referred to in financial notes in Hamilton City Council's long-term plan for 2018 to 2028.

Council's budget for the coming decade lists almost $17m for pool-related capital projects, namely for pool buildings or "operational assets" which need replacement at Waterworld and Gallagher Aquatic Centre.

What happened with Hamilton's Municipal Pools

1912: Hamilton's Municipal Pools complex built.

June 2012: Hamilton's Municipal Pools closed due to structural and safety issues.

July 2013: Sink or Swim has a $6.8m plan to renovate and rebuild the complex in three stages but Hamilton City Council doesn't commit funding, which hampers community fundraising efforts.

May 2015: Council's long-term plan proposes to close the pools permanently and reinstate the site for other use at a cost of $670,000. Sink or Swim makes a last-ditch effort to save the pools from closure.

June 2015: Pools permanently closed. Council budgeted $10,000 a year to keep the complex secure while it decided what to do.

July 2015: Six people arrested after a gathering of 40 to 50 people at the closed pools. Police say it appeared people, thought to be homeless, were sheltering at the pool site.

June 2018: Hamilton city councillors sign off a long-term plan including a reference to a "one-off cost of $1m to demolish the Municipal Pools"

Approx October 2018: Sink or Swim approached by a planner appointed to lead the demolition process. City council is preparing a resource consent application.