Campaign group Save Big Splash says the ACT Government must intervene after the mortgagees in possession confirmed the Big Splash water park will not reopen by the November 1 deadline.

Spokesperson Amelia Tattam said the mortgagees’ public statement had brought clarity to the site’s future, confirming the park would not be ready to reopen by the date previously outlined by Access Canberra.

She said the mortgagees had also made it clear they did not set the November 1 deadline, claiming it was imposed by Access Canberra.

Ms Tattam questioned what would happen now that the deadline had been acknowledged as unachievable.

“When Access Canberra lifted the Controlled Activity Order in April, the Canberra community was told Big Splash would reopen by 1 November. The Mortgagees in Possession have now publicly confirmed that will not happen,” she said.

The mortgagees have appointed Colliers to sell the lease, with expressions of interest closing on July 22.

Ms Tattam said that even if a buyer was secured, transferring the lease, obtaining approvals and restoring the site’s facilities would take considerable time, making a November reopening unrealistic.

She said Canberra families had already missed two summer seasons at the park and were now likely to miss a third.

Ms Tattam also said questions about the lenders’ commercial interests should not distract from what she described as the central issue of enforcing the obligations attached to the Crown Lease.

The mortgagees have argued there are other Crown Leases across Canberra that are not being enforced. Ms Tattam said, if that were true, it raised broader questions about whether the government was applying its own rules consistently.

“The private sector has failed to reopen Big Splash. The regulator has failed to enforce the conditions it imposed. The ACT Government can no longer stand back and hope the problem resolves itself,” she said.