Clubs demand fair play

Wanneroo City councillors agreed last week to build the room to the applause of Yanchep Red Hawks Football Club members.

Giving a deputation prior to the meeting, Yanchep resident Jay Leonhardt said the sporting facilities were built in 1999 after four years of planning but not finished because of a lack of funds.

‘We’ve been pushing this same issue for 14 years now,’ he said, adding clubs had approached the council three times previously without success.

‘The existing facility has only the very basics and we’ve made do with this over the many years. The meeting room we would like is what is on the original plans.’

Mr Leonhardt said there were almost 600 young people involved in sport in the area, but the clubs had to keep trophies and memorabilia ‘in cupboards at home’.

He said they wanted a space to display those, have team meetings and have social gatherings after matches.

He was concerned at the City’s proposal to include a 100sq m meeting room at the Yanchep playing fields and said the initial plans identified the need for a bigger space.

‘If we needed a 160sq m room in 1995, how do we only need 100sq m now?’ he said.

‘The community fully supports the new open space but we would like what we were told we were getting 15 years ago.’

Mr Leonhardt asked the council not to wait to include it in the 2015-16 budget.

‘We would like it to happen before the next football season,’ he said.

Yanchep resident Michael Sutherland presented a petition with 541 signatures to extend the Oldham oval building.

When the council came to consider the report that recommended a room be included in plans for the Yanchep playing fields rather than Oldham, Cr Linda Aitken moved an amendment to list a 100sq m room at Oldham for consideration in the 2015-16 budget. She said Yanchep residents needed a community hall, particularly because of the area’s increasing population.

After Cr Brett Treby said that would mean the extension would not be built before 2016-17, chief executive Daniel Simms suggested an additional line in the amendment.

Mr Simms said he could investigate whether the City had the funds and resources to build the extension this financial year and report to the council in September.

Cr Aitken agreed and the amendment received unanimous support, as did the original recommendation as amended.

The decision meant there would be 100sq m meeting rooms attached to change rooms at both Oldham and the Yanchep playing fields.

As the grateful crowd of Red Hawks left council chambers, Mayor Tracey Roberts said she would be calling on the vocal group when the City went to State Parliament to get the rail line to Yanchep.