Yes! It is time to stop pussy footing around on Unley Oval.
We have been through a very exhaustive master planning process, involving our own investigations up to 7 years ago.
This was followed by an extensive public consultation last year by an outside consultant, resulting in a concept for future planning. With elected members not embracing that plan we engaged another consultant to pick up on what we had learnt during this time to come up with another concept for the future. This one identified opportunities not previously seen.
We have a pretty good blueprint I suggest for identifying what can happen at the Oval and its surrounds. That being the case Council needs surely to focus on what are the best options for the here and now, leaving the rest for the future.
Unfortunately we still seem to be buried in the public service world of investigating what we have already investigated, I think with elected members from council seeking some direction from our admin as to where yo go from here. At the same time I think admin is seeking to understand where the elected members would like to take this.
This may be why things take so long in local government.
So where to from here?
I have given notice of an intention to move a motion at Monday night’s council meeting to not just move ahead but to focus on what I believe we both want. And what I believe we both want, and indeed the community also want, is 2 things:
1. We want to above all else maximize the precinct for the use of the wider community. Create more usable open space for ALL to enjoy.
2. We also want to ensure that the football change room and associated facilities are SANFL compliant.
It is my aim to have our admin work on bringing back to us options for increasing the usable open space for families to picnic, play and simply recreate.
We no longer need to look at how we might accommodate service clubs or the likes in a multi-purpose facility that all the clubs can use. We have no need to upgrade the facilities of the bowls or tennis. So let’s focus on what we want, and what our community has been telling us.
There are options that can be looked to improve Unley Oval for the use of the broader community. Lets pin them down, get some design and costings and take it out to the public for their input.
Then maybe we can see something, subject obviously to the availability of funding, happen on the ground.
I hope my elected colleagues see it the same way.
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