Committees of management of four East Moorabool reserves will be abolished as Moorabool council seeks to ease the burden on volunteers.
Councillors last week approved plans to create a “super committee” by dismissing the committees responsible for Darley Park, Masons Lane, Maddingley Park and Bacchus Marsh Racecourse and Recreation Reserve.
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“The current model of reserve committees of management in East Moorabool has ceased to be an effective and efficient means of managing the use and maintenance of reserves,” a council report found.
“The feedback from the committees of management and user group representatives is that they want to be involved in the planning and development of the reserves, but not in the management of use and maintenance.”
The report found significant population growth in East Moorabool was placing pressure on infrastructure and volunteers.
Mayor Paul Tatchell said he was concerned the Darley Park, Maddingley Park and Masons Lanes committees currently had no presidents.
Darley Junior Cricket Club’s Rod Ward told a community meeting last month that use of local reserves had doubled in the past five years and would likely double again in the next five years because of population growth.
The new super committee will be chaired by a councillor and six members of the public.
While the community meeting revealed strong support for the plan, outgoing Maddingley Park committee chairwoman Marg Scarff said she feared East Moorabool reserve users would lose their right to have a say.
“We need to make [the park users] part of the solution rather than the perceived problem,” she said.
“The consultation process for this [plan] was utterly flawed.”
