The recent Jaycee Park fiasco not only ignited a flashpoint for angry Kyabram residents, it also raised serious questions about Campaspe Shire Council’s handling of a proposed regional park for the town.
Fed up with ongoing delays and lack of action after a decade of repeated calls for improved playground facilities, community anger and frustration spilled over into a snap public rally held at Jaycee Park two weeks ago, when almost 100 placard-waving people called for an immediate upgrade to Kyabram’s neglected town park.
Frustrations had reached boiling point when council shelved the long-awaited Jaycee Park draft master plan and announced a park upgrade would have to wait another few years while a Town Structure Plan was completed.
Council claimed the structure plan was needed to better understand Kyabram’s future needs and to make sure that new infrastructure — including the proposed regional park — was located in the right place.
So why was $250,000 allocated for the Jaycee Park draft master plan BEFORE the Town Structure Plan was even considered?
Surely it wasn’t a simple oversight. Council had plenty of prior warning that Kyabram was on the cusp of rapid population growth. Several large residential housing developments have been approved in recent years, allowing for construction of hundreds of new homes in the shire’s second largest town.
Aware that Kyabram was growing quickly, a competent council would have first completed a Town Structure Plan to identify the best location for a regional park and other future infrastructure, before spending money on concept designs that had a high likelihood of being scrapped.
It is beyond logical comprehension that this methodical process was not followed. It also raises suspicion that council’s haphazard actions may well have been a deliberate and strategic stalling tactic.
By announcing two years ago that a regional park would be established on the broader Jaycee Park precinct, which includes the pool, skate park, a small car park and senior citizens clubrooms, council created the impression that long overdue infrastructure development in Kyabram was finally starting to happen.
After a series of delays, the draft master plans were eventually released to the public. Then — contrary to council’s fabled “no surprises policy” — the project was immediately halted to allow a Town Structure Plan to be undertaken.
The structure plan is not expected to commence for another 12 months and will probably take a few more years to complete. No surprises there.
Next, of course, will be the Aquatic Strategy. A decision about the future location of Kyabram’s proposed regional park cannot be made until a decision is made about the future of our ageing swimming pool.
Will it be maintained or closed down, turned into a splash park and incorporated into the regional park, or will a new heated pool be built elsewhere?
When analysing the reason for these ongoing delays, the only rationale can be budgetary.
After all, the longer that council delays expenditure on Kyabram’s regional park development, the less it has to worry about “what other town will miss out”.
With the regional park project now pushed back several more years, an upgrade for the neglected Jaycee Park playground has suddenly jumped the queue and became an urgent priority.
And the final irony? The $250,000 cost of the shelved draft master plan could have gone a long way towards providing some decent play equipment at Jaycee Park.
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