Zoe Moffatt
Macedon Ranges council plans to move away from single centralised skate and BMX facilities through its draft strategy.
Council voted to approve the draft skate and BMX strategy’s release for community consultation at its meeting on July 26.
There are currently six existing skate parks and four BMX tracks throughout the Macedon Ranges, and the strategy recommends providing district facilities in select townships to service population clusters.
The strategy proposes a facility in each major township as the most equitable approach, with the size of these facilities responding to each township’s current and forecast populations.
Councillor Dominic Bonanno said these spaces are important for the growth of young people in the shire, and he encourages them to share their feedback on the strategy.
“I know quite a few young people who are very excited and keen to see progression on some of the items in the strategy,” Cr Bonanno said.
“We know and acknowledge how important it is for young people to have their own space to learn and grow in our community.
“Skate parks provide that space for our youth… [we] encourage feedback from the kids on this strategy and in particular to comment on the suggested new location in Gisborne.”
Cr Rob Guthrie said he did not want to build expectations and reminded residents that the strategy has a 16 year timeframe.
“By putting this out for consultation I don’t want people getting the misconception that we’re going to be building something tomorrow,” Cr Guthrie said.
“We need to have this strategy so we can go to other levels of government and seek external grant funding.
“If you look at the program over the 16 years… it’s almost half a million dollars a year over the life of the program.
“Certainly we haven’t got the capacity to do that, but that’s why the strategy is so important, [it] needs community support.”
