By Kristy McDonald
FIREWORKS were unavoidable at Brimbank City Council’s ordinary meeting when about 400 residents turned out to have their say on the council’s community facilities and reserves allocation policy.
Police and council security staff were on hand to control the crowd, but their presence did not deter the jeers that drowned out attempts to speak by councillors who voted for the new scheme.
Councillor Natalie Suleyman was also the target of abuse.
But the message from the community was mixed after council officially adopted the policy and announced the allocation of the newly constructed Balmoral Park sports grounds in Derrimut to the Brimbank Soccer Club and Sunshine Heights Cricket Club.
Arguments erupted in the gallery between members of the successful soccer club and members of the Sydenham Soccer Club, who are at risk of losing their home ground of 10 years under the new scheme.
“Look what they’ve done, they’ve succeeded, they’ve done exactly what they’ve wanted to do and divided the community,” Sydenham Under 13 girls team manager Yvonne Bacak said.
Under the new policy, community organisations are able to submit expressions of interest for the use of local facilities, which will be considered and approved or rejected by a council committee following consultation with the organisations and in accordance with set allocation criteria.
Brimbank mayor Sam David said the policy was designed to ensure a transparent allocation of local community groups.
“We have a responsibility as a council to ensure that facilities and reserves are allocated in a fair and equal manner to community members, groups and clubs,” Cr David said.
“This is what the policy aims to do. It will also ensure that the allocation of council venues that become available to community groups and clubs for use are allocated through a transparent and accountable process, such as an expression of interest.
“It’s about optimising community use of council facilities and reserves so that ratepayers get value for money and every group or club gets a fair go.”
The policy states that a council facility and-or reserve will become available to allocate for community use as a result of existing availability capacity for multi-use or mixed-use users or vacation by the existing occupant.
The Sydenham Soccer Club’s tenure at Keilor Lodge Reserve will be under threat when its current lease expires at the end of this season.
The club has more than two decades’ history in the region and has called the Keilor Lodge Reserve ‘home’ for the past 10 years.
Melissa, Jacqueline, Alisha, Chloe and Naomi, who play in the Under 13 Sydenham girls’ side, said the loss of their local ground would break the team up and take away one of their greatest achievements. They said all-girls soccer teams are rare in their immediate vicinity and the players themselves recruited and supported each other through forming a highly successful team, recording just one loss in their first two seasons.
“We love going to soccer, we don’t want to go home. We went around school and got all these girls to play so we could have a team,” Chloe said.
“Our team is not all about being really good, we just have fun and we encourage each other.
“If we don’t have this ground, we’ll have to go somewhere else to play, too far from home and we won’t be able to play together.
“We’ll be playing in the street.”
