As summer nears, parents hoping to take their kids for some cooling off fun at the new Mossman Splash Park face disappointment, with reports that the attraction might not be ready in time for the Christmas holidays.

Douglas Council had hoped the Splash Park would already be being enjoyed by some of the Shire’s more than 1500 pre-schoolers and primary aged children by now, having advertised on its website in April that “the park is expected to be open to the public by August 2023.”

But in response to queries from Newsport, Mayor Michael Kerr said work on upgrading power at the park, alongside the Mossman Pool, is yet to be completed – hence the delay.

As the weather heats up, parents can expect a further delay.

“An opening date is yet to be confirmed,” Cr Kerr said.

“Council is waiting on an energy retailer to upgrade power at the site. Unfortunately, the timing of the upgrade is out of Council’s control,” he added.

We asked Ergon – the only “energy retailer” servicing this part of Queensland – for comment but their response was very general, due to customer privacy reasons.

A statement from Ergon read: “While Ergon Energy Network cannot comment on individual cases for privacy reasons, we work with customers to reach agreement on a reasonable timeframe as part of the connection contract that they sign.   

“Timeframes depend on a range of factors, including the type and complexity of the connection, the extent of any network upgrades required to support it, need to bring in additional resources from outside the area, third party approvals and weather conditions during construction,” the Ergon statement said.