3 minute read
Clubs Agree on Burrows Upgrade While Residents Fear Foul Play
by The Beast
The battle for Burrows Park may nearly be over, with local sporting clubs seemingly close to reaching agreement over the future of the Clovelly green space and sporting field. However, many residents remain suspicious about plans to upgrade the area.
The Clovelly Crocodiles Rugby League Football Club has stepped back from a plan for a field expansion that would have involved substantial earthworks. Now it is looking at increasing the size of the field by a “relatively modest” two metres in length and another two metres in width.
“It will just involve a change in line markings,” said Ryan Mangan, Registrar and Executive Committee member with the Crocs.
Meanwhile, the Clovelly Eagles Junior Rugby Football Club has dropped its previous opposition to a new amenities block at the edge of the oval. The current building is half a century old and badly dilapidated, with a leaking roof and badly rusted iron girders.
“After hearing Randwick Council explain regulations around accessibility for all users of the facility - not just us footy clubs - we agree that a knockdown and rebuild may very well be the best way to go - and most cost effective,” said Eagles Vice President Jack Singleton.
He added that it was important that the building remains within its current footprint so it doesn’t eat up extra park space.
Bondi United Rugby League Football Club and Paddington Colts Sports Club are also stakeholders in the upgrade, with both clubs using Burrows Park as their home ground.
The concessions follow a recent meeting between stakeholders at Clovelly Bowling Club, located next door to the playing field and its important remnant coastal vegetation. In attendance were representatives of the Crocs and Eagles plus two other teams that regularly use the field - Maccabi Rugby Club and the Randwick Magic female rugby club. Also taking part in the meeting were representatives of residents’ group Friends of Burrows Park and other concerned stakeholders.
While the sporting clubs seem to have found some common ground, residents still feel their voices are not being heard.
Leanne Warner, spokesperson for Friends of Burrows Park, told The Beast, “From our perspective, the consultation has been wasted. The upgrade proposals remain over-ambitious and will put the park off-limits to many current users.”
She also feared the field extension would end up encroaching on the dog off-leash area on the lower ground at the southern end of the park.
There were two dog owners exercising their pets right at the edge of the field when The Beast arrived to meet Mr Mangan and Mr Singleton. One dog was leashed, while the other much smaller dog ran loose. Both men said that having dogs at the very edge of the field like this, even outside the line markings, was a no-no.
“Ideally they should not be going within five metres of the line markings,” Mr Singleton explained.
Issues like this are likely to keep some local residents at odds with the plans for the popular park, which has history as a sporting field going back many years. The Clovelly Crocs, who landscaped the field and whitewashed the first line markings back in the day, have played a central part in that history - the club also built the amenities block, comprising toilets, change rooms and a storage room - but the number of residents in the area has steadily increased since then and they feel that they also have a right to decide the future of this unique and important public green space.
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