Letters to The Review

David Shimell writes ...

I cannot help but think of the campaign to stop the development of North Stoneville, where the community is galvanised to prevent this proposal and yet they are asked again because developers wish to go ahead again.

The slogans of the Save the Perth Hills group is Stop the Expansion (again) and Once it's gone it's gone. Perhaps these slogans would apply to our charming oval and to those of us who are desirous of maintaining its uniqueness. Many of us are now engaged on a double front in saving our environment and make no mistake it is exhausting and stressful yet it somehow feels that those agitating for change are not under the same kind of stress.

Let us think about the traffic volume:

Other people have spoken and written about the extra vehicles that will be in attendance, that could easily be as much as 100. This is just guesswork but it goes to the point that letters have been submitted about the concern of the increasing traffic volume. It is noticeable that, currently, there are many vehicles present at practice sessions and matches. People are already in their cars, so could equally well travel to the other ovals that are wide enough to accommodate the relevant playing groups.

Let us look at the expansion statistics:

Darlington Oval is 140m long and 80m wide therefore does not meet the adult requirement size which requires the field

Elizabeth Dumont writes ...

ONCE AGAIN we are being asked “Do we want more Sport on the Oval”? This is the third year in a row we have said “NO, THANK YOU!” The reasons are supremely simple.

SHARING: We already have a great deal of sport on this small “public open space” that serves many community needs and functions. We all enjoy primary school aged cricket and football coaching – kids and Dads have a wonderful time! Everyone loves sharing with senior social cricket on weekends – so picturesque, polite and historical.

DO NOT MOVE TEAMS FROM BOYA OVAL TO DARLINGTON! A ‘want’ is not a ‘need’ especially when it is achieved at Ratepayer expense and at the expense of those already sharing this “public open space” that serves many needs and functions. The most solid reason to move teams from Boya to Darlington given in the proposal to the Shire is that the changerooms are “poor and non compliant”. (Note: The Shire and other users dispute this assertion.)

But if this is, indeed, the case, the funding for widening our village green could be put to better use by upgrading the Boya facility. The teams who currently play on Boya Oval - just four minutes away- have many choices of venue – there are seven in Mundaring Shire alone. There is only one small village green currently used for primary school sports, senior cricket, and the community at large – at no extra cost. All good reasons to keep it as it is.

ENJOYING LIFE! “Public Open Space” is a highly treasured village asset meant to promote health, happiness and well being for an entire community of all ages and interests to walk, run, dance, to be between 110m to 115m wide. However Boya Oval and Glen Forrest Oval do have the width and depth to meet this requirement. Darlington therefore has to be expanded by a minimum of 30m. And guess what? We also have to put in place buffer zones between 20m and 40m wide. Yes, a lot of flora will have to make way for these structural alterations. I have not yet counted how many trees and xanthorres will have to be removed but I hazard a guess at least 20. fly kites, walk dogs, building friendships, sunbathe, listen to a wandering ukulele, celebrate birthdays, picnic, read under trees.... It can be difficult to keep such treasures. Someone else always wants them.

That is particularly sad as the community many years ago resisted the wholesale slaughter of our pine trees and have allowed them to grow old and die gracefully before removing them and replacing them with deciduous Ash and Liquid Amber specimens.

Members of the community nurture these young trees in our hot summers by giving their time to water and feed them. In time our oval will have mature trees providing shade for our juniors to enjoy their play on and restore the cool and beauty the towering pines gave us 10 years ago.

In conclusion I do not believe this expansion of the oval has community wide support and I am not convinced the broader Darlington community is even aware it is occurring.

Surprisingly, many people do not read the Darlington Review, do not have access to the Darling Hub Facebook page and reading a 27 page report on the DaSRA website.

PROMISES GIVEN! PROMISES KEPT? We can no longer walk our dogs off lead on the Heritage Trail. When new rules were handed down some time ago Darlington protested with spirit.

We were told by the Shire that Darlington Oval would be our “off lead” facility. With the changes requested by the sports clubs, teams will often be using the whole oval every day and some evenings. Inevitably dogs would be required on lead or off the oval entirely depending on what sport was being played and how much boundary was required.

GREATER NEED EXISTS ELSEWHERE IN THE SHIRE. The Shire is currently considering a wide number of capital work requests from community organisations right across the Shire.

Most of those submissions are fully supported by enthusiastic organisations and grateful communities. In Darlington it is completely unreasonable to think that RATEPAYERS should be asked to underwrite an extravagant ‘WANT’!

It is certainly not a ‘NEED’! It is unreasonable to ask a community to give up a well used public open space for sports teams who already enjoy purpose built facilities provided by the Ratepayers.

WRITE IN SUPPORT of keeping our Public Open Space as is. Send to Shane Purdy, Infrastructure Manager, shire@mundaring.wa.gov.au or mail to 7000 Great Eastern Highway, WA 6073