City of Busselton votes for Dunsborough Lakes Sporting Precinct pavilion site amid lack of consultation claims

The City of Busselton has voted to push forward with plans for a multi-user sports pavilion in Dunsborough after a lengthy debate. The council voted 8-1 at its most recent meeting to choose the location of the pavilion at Dunsborough Lakes Sporting Precinct and to start detailed design works, despite complaints staff had not addressed issues raised by the town’s soccer club. The city has been working towards a new sporting precinct at Dunsborough Lakes for the last four years, which will house the town’s netball, basketball, cricket and soccer clubs. But the Dunsborough Town Football Club has voiced opposition to moving to the precinct unless changes are made to the pavilion’s location and design. Representative Natasha Blefari said the club had not asked for new facilities. “The proposal to relocate to a facility which offers inferior amenities that will place our club at a disadvantage raises legitimate concerns amongst our members,” she said. Ms Blefari described the actions of council staff in the consultation process as sowing “seeds of discord” and “pitting various sporting codes against one another”. Dunsborough Sharks Football Club president Mark Delane spoke on behalf of the three other codes set to relocate and told the meeting Cr Ryan’s attempt to have a sporting group summit would cause further delays. Deputy mayor Anne Ryan said city staff had done little to appease the soccer club’s concerns and claimed a former chief executive had told them they could stay at their current location. “They have been promised the world time and again and told many things but now face eviction from a ground they have played harmoniously with cricket along with other community members for 20 years, remembering they built their club rooms at no expense to the ratepayer,” she said. Mayor Phill Cronin noted the potential cost to ratepayers if the project was delayed, claiming there was “a $10 million cost to the community” due to the delay in approving Saltwater Busselton. “We’ve been voted in here, the nine of us, to make decisions and we have to take advice that the officers have done the hard work,” he said.