Rob Evans, Castlemaine
It was wonderful to see so many volunteers down at Camp Reserve over the last two weekends getting some of the space into tidy and useable areas. It is then such a pity that they have not got decent facilities that they deserve.
In contrast there is a group of people hell bent on trying to obstruct, delay and even stop the proposed redevelopment of the facilities and thereby deny the hundreds of participants of all ages and gender, decent facilities for their activities.
This group do not appear to be connected to any of the major users of the facilities and in coming up with an alternative plan they have not consulted with the users.
Their plan is for two story building which is totally impracticable and would ruin the vista of the reserve.
They have stated several times that many trees will be removed when in fact the council plan provides for the removal of just four trees and the planting of twenty-eight. They claim that history will be lost but cannot name one historical structure that will be going under the council plan.
This group downgrades the sporting clubs who are by far the main users of the reserve and prioritises those who use the reserve occasionally or walk or drive past in any case it is hard to see how these people would be upset by the replacement of the eyesore facilities that now exist.
Finally, I quote what a president of one of the clubs recently stated, “The clubrooms are falling to bits, the single netball court is dated and damaged and not up to standard”.
Obviously, the need for new facilities is urgent and should be commenced without delay. Not to do so would be an embarrassment and shame on Castlemaine.
