GREATER Taree City Council is looking to raise revenue and reduce its maintenance costs by selling some of its parks and reserves in the Manning Valley.
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Areas that are not used by the community, undeveloped, undersized and have restricted potential due to access or drainage issues or are in a location with similar open space areas have been identified for disposal in council's draft Open Space Improvement Plan.
Sites in Taree, Old Bar, Wingham, Wallabi Point, Cundletown and Harrington will be either sub-divided and sold or dedicated to Housing NSW under the draft plan which is currently open for public comment until 28 February.
The decision to try to reduce the amount of parks and reserves on council's books is part of its 2013-17 delivery program and 2014-15 operational plan.
Council currently manages and maintains more than 1000 hectares of parks and reserves, and according to council, many are hardly used by residents and visitors to our area.
"Each year we receive lots of requests from community members for improvements in the more highly utilised parks and in response we have prepared a draft Open Space Improvement Plan, which details a funding proposal to improve those spaces through rationalisation of those spaces that are not frequently used," explained council's senior leader governance Jane Ree.
"Improvements include, shade shelters, play equipment, walking tracks, cycleways, barbecue facilities and seating, which are all ideas that have been identified by sporting and community groups over the years.
"The plan also identifies the smaller under utilised reserves that we would like to either sell or dedicate to other organisations to reduce our maintenance costs and raise revenue for the improvements," she added.
The following locations are identified in the plan for disposal by council:
o Taree: Bushland Park, a portion of Melaleuca Place, Bangalow Place Reserve, Ruprecht Park, Patricia Avenue Reserve, Gwenneth Avenue Reserve, Ronald Road Reserve, Craiglea Close Reserve, Edinburgh Drive Reserve, Andrew Close Reserve, Dolphin Park and Hinten Crescent.
o Cundletown: Regent/River Street Reserve.
o Old Bar: Carle Park, a portion of Charles Boyce Park, Waterman Street Reserve, a portion of Mistral Place Reserve, a portion of Seaview Park, Bluehaven Estate Reserve and a portion of Badgers Park.
o Wingham: Bahanas Close Reserve, a portion of Apex Park, Kerrydell Place Reserve, Hereford Close Reserve No.1 and a portion of Richardson Street Reserve.
o Wallabi Point: A portion of Shelley Close Reserve.
o Harrington: Dolphin Park.
According to the draft plan, "funds obtained through the sale of these areas would be specifically set aside in a trust fund and used to provide capital improvements and/or undertake greater maintenance to extend the life of existing assets in higher useage parks within the same locality."
It also states that "income obtained through the sale of this land could also be used as matching funding to enable council to secure additional funding for improvements through external grant programs such as the NSW Sport and Recreation's Participation and Facility Program and the NSW Community Building Partnership Program.
The draft Open Space Improvement Plan is on display in council's administration building in Pulteney Street, Taree and available to download from council's website www.http://www.gtcc.nsw.gov.au/council/feedback/draft-open-space-improvement-plan
