MUSWELLBROOK Shire Council’s spokesperson for sport Graeme McNeill understands the current frustrations of the town’s sporting fraternity in relation to their respective playing surfaces.
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But, he’s also aware the answer to their woes is not a “quick fix” – and believes council staff is working hard to maintain standards in severe drought conditions.
In the past fortnight, a number of organisations have aired their concerns, both privately and publicly, about the shire’s pitches, including Olympic Park, Highbrook Park, Victoria Park, Weeraman Fields and the Denman Recreational Grounds.
“Their grievances are real,” Cr McNeill said.
“However, it’s a challenge to meet all those expectations, too.
“There’s a process we have in place to look at issues.
“For example, we have the sport and recreation user group meetings.
“Here, representatives bring issues and suggestions to the table.
“The over-sow program, additional water allocation ($35,000), the irrigation of Volunteer Park and the new drainage at Olympic Park are some things coming out of last year’s meetings.”
“Our problems are different from neighbouring towns, such as Singleton and Scone.
“We’re at a disadvantage of where our grounds are located – and soil is the major issue, not being alluvial river soils.
“It would be a much larger cost to bring our surfaces to an equivalent standard [like Singleton and Scone].
“Council’s water allocation is indicative of an average season as well.
“Maybe, we can look at more flexibility [in the water budget] in the future.
“Although it’s hard to predict the weather patterns, especially the ones we’re experiencing at the moment.”
Cr McNeill admitted the lines of communication with the various clubs were “pretty good”.
“We have quarterly user group meetings to raise any concerns,” he said.
“So, their current problems are not a surprise.
“But, in my time [at council], the Capital and Operational budgets have increased considerably – about 30 per cent.
“I believe Victoria Park and Olympic Park are over-utilised, leading to some of the wear issues.
“We’re trying to balance that playing schedule, with co-operation from the users.
“We might look to use somewhere like Highbrook Park a bit more.”
Cr McNeill reiterated an over-sow program was planned for numerous venues in the shire next month.
Olympic Park (Oval 1), Highbrook Park (Oval 1), Victoria Park (Oval 2), Weeraman Fields (Oval 1) in Muswellbrook and the Denman Recreational Grounds (Oval 1) will be closed from March 26 to April 20.
“There is only a three-week period from the time of sowing the seed until the field is reopened, which hopefully minuses the disruption to users,” he said.
“The benefit of over-sowing the ryegrass is that it provides an actively growing cool season grass cover that will help provide a safe, high-quality playing surface while normal warm season grass types are dormant.
“We’ve also got money in the budget to re-do the amenities block at Highbrook Park, as well as $20,000 for top-dressing at the Denman Recreational Grounds.
“As for Victoria Park, we applied for a grant through the Asian Cup Legacy Fund.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get that, which hampered our plans.
“However, $300,000 has been put aside by council for the ground.
“We now need to work out the best way to utilise that money.
“Olympic Park has $600,000 (car parking) and $50,000 (master plan) in the kitty.
“But, work’s been delayed until the master plan is complete.
“This finalisation requires the consideration of feedback from special user group meetings (already held) and the additional plans dependent on the Special Rate Variation (SRV).
“All in all, I think our facility and ground standards are improving, albeit not at the pace user groups might like.
“I commend the staff for their efforts and being brave enough to participate in the ‘yard stick program’.
“This is an initiative that can be used to measure the performance of councils in terms of budgets and resourcing – in our case sport and recreation.”
