At the November 2019 Bayside Council meeting Councillors voted to have the sports pavilion cut out of the Beaumaris Memorial precinct area that is being assessed by Bayside Council and Heritage Victoria for heritage overlay protection. This was done to allow the architect appointed by Council to progress the design and have the plans ready for submission to the Bayside Council Planning department.
The work was put on hold as Council determined that by doing so the overall heritage overlay order would be diminished if any pavilion was removed from the precinct. At a meeting of Council on 18 February Council proposed (Item 10.1) to reverse their decision in November to include the sports pavilion in the precinct. This means that any heritage overlay protection, or any other relevant planning overlay constraints that apply to the precinct, will also apply to the proposed new sports pavilion and that could mean further delay to the design and build of the sports pavilion.
Your Committee presented to Council seeking an amendment to the proposal to include a specific timeframe that Council would commit to ensuring there are no further delays. Council agreed to amend the proposal to add that the notice of planning for the new sports pavilion will be issued in March 2020. That’s a start but there remains risk that the plan will be objected to delaying the completion of the build (proposed for December 2021) into 2022. The final vote was split 4 – 2 with the 2 councillors against proposing the sports pavilion to be cut out of the heritage overlay as it was in November. Our Southern Ward councillors Clarke Martin and Laurie Evans both voted to include the sports pavilion in the heritage overlay.
Council officers have advised BSC that their engagement with a local community organisation (Arts, Beaumaris Modern, Conservation) has been positive and that they expect the sports pavilion planning process to be smooth. The implications for the sports pavilion are that its design will be sympathetic to that of the mid-century modern overlay with no loss of functionality and comprehensive landscaping of the precinct around the pavilion.
The bottom line is that the sports pavilion build has been delayed yet again.
Your Committee has the support of volunteers - an architect and planning expert - and are meeting Council officers this week to finalise the design before detailed drawings are completed for the planning to begin. We accept that other community interest groups have legitimate interests in the Reserve precinct. What we don’t accept is further delays in the build of essential facilities for women, girls and boys that was slated for completion in 2019. The build is already 2 years overdue and could be delayed further in the planning process.
Consequently, we will be asking every player, parent, coach, manager and all those who care about decent basic facilities for women and children in our community to sign a petition in March to ensure no further delays occur. Our local councillors have assured BSC the project will be delivered as a matter of urgency – but actions speak louder than words. We need your support. #KidsBeforeBricks
If you wish to see BSC’s submission to Council and hear the Councillors head here.
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