Poorly patched and loose asphalt, blackberry bushes, courts overgrown with grass and lichen and goal posts that sway and spin are just some of the things that Blayney’s netballers have to contend with each weekend at the netball courts near King George Oval.
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The Blayney District Netball Association was initially thrilled to learn that the council would spend $85,000 from the federal funded Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program to upgrade the court complex.
However, since the funding was announced in January the association say they have had virtually no input into planning for the long-awaited upgrade.
Secretary of the Blayney Netball Association, Teressa Coughlan, said that only five of the nine courts are able to be used in the condition they are in now.
“We’ve done work ourselves because we had grass growing on the courts,” she said.
“We’ve got moss growing on some of the courts so we can’t use them.”
Ms Coughlan said that although the poor state of courts had seen player numbers dwindle, the association still has 180 players in 17 teams that would utilise six of the courts if they were resurfaced.
“If we had the six back courts done we could lock them up and leave the front three newer courts open for practice,” she said.
Blayney Shire Council’s director of engineering, Grant Baker, said that although council had not “locked in” the number of courts that would be resurfaced initial quotes indicated that the $85,000 would not be enough to cover six courts.
“It could be three courts with upgrades to additional facilities or it could be four with not much else,” he said.
Mr Baker said that if the council gives the go ahead to resurface three courts the leftover money would most likely go towards repainting, seating and may stretch to new goal posts “subject to funding”.
As a condition of the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program funding work on the projects needs to be completed by February 28, 2011.
However, Mr Baker said he was confident work would begin in late October/early November of this year when the netball playing season finishes.
“It’s a quick project,” he said.
“The work will take a maximum of a fortnight subject to the weather.”
Ms Coughlan said that the association had offered to fundraise or apply for other grants to resurface the extra courts, but had been knocked back by council.
Mr Baker said that the council “didn’t support” the association’s attempt to find their own funding because the court complex was “council’s responsibility” as it was a “council asset”.
“If they provide council with leads for other funding we will follow them up,” he said.
The state of the netball facilities in Blayney has been an ongoing problem, Ms Coughlan said, with the netball association first raising their concerns in a letter to the Council in 2008.
“We are just sick of the state of the courts there is always something wrong,” she said.
Ms Coughlan said that the association showed Mr Baker what maintenance work was needed at a meeting at the courts in September 2008 but had mixed results.
“As a result of the meeting we got new seats and some of the cracks (in the asphalt) filled,” she said.
“But there is still a blackberry bush growing along the fence, moss growing on the courts and we still haven’t got any wheelie bins.
“We have also asked for the trees along the side of the courts to be chopped up high to let the sunlight in to stop the moss growing on the courts.”
Mr Baker said that the letter from a concerned parent he received last week was the first correspondence he had from the association since August 2008.
“I’ve left messages with the association to get in contact with me about the resurfacing,” he said.
“Council does things when an issue is brought to our attention.”
Ms Coughlan said that the poor state of the court complex was causing unnecessary injury to players and had even cost Blayney a chance to host the State Age Carnival as teams from other towns weren’t willing to play on the sub-standard Blayney courts.
“We put in all the paperwork to book the oval and the courts for the carnival and we told council we needed all nine courts functional and all they did was cut the trees back,” she said.
“The other teams know what our courts are like and they won’t come here.”
Mr Baker said that work on the two other projects allocated funds from the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program grant would not commence until the council’s management plan is adopted.
In the council’s draft management plan for 2010-2015 $12,000 from the grant will be used to build a new playground in Newbridge and an additional $12,000 has been set aside for a new barbecue area in Neville.
The terms and conditions of the federal funding program require the council to produce progress reports on each project by July 31 and October 31 2010, and a final report and statement of completion by February 28 2011.