Plans for a $65 million upgrade of the Bolton Park precinct should be set aside to allow Wagga City Council to focus on other priorities, according to the city’s ratepayer group.
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Lynne Bodell from the Wagga Ratepayers’ Community Forum, said the group had lodged a formal submission opposing the draft Bolton Park master plan, which would see improvements to facilities including Robertson Oval, the Oasis Aquatic Centre, Jim Elphick Tennis Centre, Geoff Lawson Oval, Bolton Park amenities, gymnastics facilities, car parking and the skate area.
Ms Bodell said the ratepayers’ forum believed there were other facilities which needed to be upgraded or built that were more important than Bolton Park.
She said the Oasis centre had been “losing money since its inception” and that there had been recent significant improvements to both the tennis centre and Robertson Oval.
Ms Bodell said the group was also concerned not only about the impact on CBD congestion if the upgrade went ahead, but also that planned conference facilities would not be much larger than those already in the city.
She pointed to live concerts and major livestock events as two potential tourism draw cards that would not be catered for in the planned upgrade.
“The general consensus is that the funding would be better used for other projects,” Ms Bodell said.
She said the overwhelming priority for people who had spoken to the ratepayers’ forum was Lake Albert.
“A healthy Lake Albert’s value to the community is priceless,” Ms Bodell said.
The ratepayers are also pushing for a “long-promised” covered exhibition centre at Wagga’s Equex and the development of a small “summer months only” pool in suburban Wagga.
Wagga councillor Paul Funnell said he had received both positive and negative feedback from the community about the draft plan.
He said there were concerns, which he shared, about the city investing in major new projects when it already had critical infrastructure to maintain.
“We don’t have the resources now,” Councillor Funnell said.
He said roads and the city’s sewage system were critical, would need maintenance and, as new housing was developed, would need even more maintenance in the future.
Wagga mayor Greg Conkey said the feedback he had received was mostly positive, but he said there was some confusion about when any of these projects would go ahead.
“This is a long-term plan, a 20 or 30-year plan,” Cr Conkey said.
“We haven’t got $65 million to start building now, but we need to plan for things to come.”
