Lancefield’s community is growing and so too are demands on local sporting and recreation facilities with limited funding.
A new draft Lancefield Park Master Plan aims to create a map for the future of the town’s much-loved park.
Plans include long-awaited expansion of Laurie Green Pavilion, cricket practice facilities, improved access and lighting.
Lancefield Park Committee of Management president Bill Balcom said the draft mast plan was “a good start” to seeing much-needed upgrades.
“One of the biggest shortfalls we’ve had is the changing facilities for girls. Our female participation has grown and current facilities are not female-friendly,” he said.
“The plan also identified current football clubrooms “are not sustainable” and the social space “is functionally inadequate”.
“The fence around the main oval desperately needs replacing and the oval needs drainage addressed. We only have one oval and sporting clubs are increasing. We need to look at future opportunities.
“The master plan is fairly broad – there are lots of ideas that need funding but we don’t have an independent form of funding. We are trying to work closer with the council in the best interest of the community and the sporting grounds.”
Mr Balcom said Bendigo Bank had assisted the committee through its community grants program.
An expanded Laurie Green Pavilion would include a larger multi-use space and fit-for-purpose change rooms. It would also allow ongoing community use and new sporting and recreational uses.
Football and cricket would benefit from floodlights at oval two, and main oval works that include a new perimeter fence, player shelters, and new sub surface drainage.
Other planned upgrades include construction of a new four-lane cricket practice facility and resolving drainage problems between the nets and tennis courts.
Resurfacing the main netball court with compliant lighting, installation of shelters and extension of the tennis clubrooms to include an accessible toilet are also listed.
For lawn bowlers, there are plans to install floodlights at the green and allow for potential expansion.
Improvements to traffic access, pedestrian paths, megafauna site protection, playground upgrades and re-forming the BMX track are among the upgrades.
LIMITED FUNDS
Lancefield Park Recreation Reserve is on Crown land and managed by a volunteer committee of management, and therefore funded differently to other reserves in the shire.
Macedon Ranges Shire Council assisted the committee to review and update its master plan and contributed funding.
A report to the council last month, stated “investment in upgrades and development at Lancefield Park has been limited”.
“Some facilities are no longer fit for purpose or are reaching the end of their useful life,” it said.
“The plan identifies future development opportunities but does not commit the council to any funding responsibility for the park and its facilities.”
The report to the council stated the committee of management provided feedback it would like to explore the possibility of transferring a level of management responsibility for the park to the council in the future.
“The Committee of Management has acknowledged that the costs, time and expertise needed to meet the required levels of service, maintenance, auditing and compliance at the park are now challenging the capability and capacity of the current volunteer base,” it said.
The council has since initiated meetings with the committee to begin a conversation on a model of management that may be appropriate for Lancefield Park that is both beneficial for the user groups and financially viable for council.
FEEDBACK NEEDED
Council is seeking feedback on the draft master plan, on behalf of the committee, for a four-week period ending August 22.
The committee will provide feedback on the draft during the community consultation period.
