- Target:
- Moonee Valley City Council
- Region:
- Australia
- Website:
- www.savefairbairnpark.org
At the council meeting of 2 March, Moonee Valley City Council approved the Fairbairn Park master plan 7 votes to 2, including the relocation of Essendon Cricket Club. This is an extremely disappointing outcome, considering the amount of community opposition to the proposal. There are still many grey areas in our view about what the council has actually approved, particularly in relation to fencing and the liquor licence. We will be attempting to further engage council to clarify this, as well as considering other possible avenues.
Thanks to everyone who signed and supported the campaign.
The Moonee Valley City Council is currently considering a proposal to relocate Essendon Cricket Club to Fairbairn Park.
The proposal is to remove up to 4 of the park’s 8 hard wickets at the north end of the park and construct two turf grounds for use by ECC.
The main oval will be fenced, and there will be construction of a new pavilion (expected to be significantly larger than current buildings) as well as other infrastructure.
View a map of the proposed location of the ovals.
If this goes ahead it will have a significant impact on all users of the park:
• Reduced access to the park by the community due to the greater demands on the ovals by Premier Grade cricket – playing, training, pitch preparation etc;
• Change of the nature of the park away from community use/community sport
• Introduce a restricted area of the park via a fenced oval, and roped off turf wickets and practice wickets.
• Existing cricket clubs – junior and senior in the NWCA and MMVCA will have to find alternative grounds and/or increase Sunday play (leading to even more restriction for use by community)
• Potential to affect soccer clubs due to inevitable pressure on council to allow Aust Rules use on the new ovals
• Affect on the playground and BBQ areas which will be adjacent to the main oval, introducing a potential safety issue, or the installation of large protective barriers
• Extra noise and loss of amenity for local residents with the transfer of the liquor licence from Windy Hill to the new pavilion to allow club functions
We the undersigned oppose the relocation of the Essendon Cricket Club to Fairbairn Park, which will dramatically impact on the community open space and result in the relocation of local community groups.
The Save Fairbairn Park Ascot Vale petition to Moonee Valley City Council was written by David Macaulay and is in the category Local Government at GoPetition.