News
Civic Park fencing rejected - but super park to be considered

The idea of a "super park" was floated after a petition failed to achieve full fencing of the Civic Park playground in Warragul.

Despite a last minute plea from lead petitioner Elysha Clarke to deliver "real infrastructure for real families," Baw Baw Shire councillors voted against fencing the playground. Instead, they sought planning for an all-abilities playground within development of council's playground strategy.
"Warragul Civic Park is not the playground that should be fenced in this town," Cr Kate Wilson said.
Cr Ben Lucas said conversations were happening and "we've got a real appetite as a group for a super park or something really knock out."
Ms Clarke told councillors she was "deeply upset and frustrated" after reading the officer report.
She said 700 people had signed two petitions calling for critical fencing but claimed an officer report appeared bias, mispresented external reports and was "deeply offensive" in rejecting their concerns as a supervision issue.
"We deserve a thorough, honest review, not a document that bends facts to support a pre-decided outcome," she said. "Baw Baw Shire is falling behind. We need real infrastructure for real families."
In one of three written submissions, Erin McNally said Civic Park was her family's favourite park but they often put off visiting due to lack of fencing.
"Families should feel supported and heard by their council, not dismissed or ignored," Ms McNally said.
April Hardy, who has two children and is pregnant, said it was impossible to manage trips to parks without fencing.
Christina Isaac said fencing Civic Park would be a powerful step towards a safer and fairer community, estimating about 178 of the 7125 children in Baw Baw Shire aged zero to nine years had autism.
"For these children, an unfenced playground is not just inconvenient - it's dangerous and often unusable," Ms Isaac said.
An officer report said council maintained 110 playgrounds within the shire of which 18 were fully fenced and 14 had half fences or barriers.
The report said Civic Park had been designed to allow children to freely enter and exit the playground to utilise the surrounding environment as part of the play experience. If fenced, officer's said the connection between different spaces or opportunity for children to take refuge on the grass outskirts would be lost.
"Fences are provided on an as-need basis following a risk assessment and reserved for high-risk hazards such as major roads," the report stated.
The report said the playground perimeter was 14 metres from the closest water, had a three-metre wide garden bed as a natural barrier and "there have been no reported incidents of drowning or near misses."
A risk assessment in April deemed the park "low risk."
The cost of fully fencing the playground was estimated at $25,000, with 130 metres of fencing and at least two gates required.
Cr Wilson said Civic Park should not be fenced but hoped Ms Clarke's petition would result in an appropriate playground developed in Warragul in future.
Despite the petition not achieving its objective, Cr Wilson said "it's still so valuable to come and talk to us."
"Even if we can't deliver the exact thing that's asked for, it starts the conversation and it starts the ball rolling," she said.
Cr Paul Pratt didn't believe the current playground should be touched after intense community consultation during previous redevelopment.
However, Cr Pratt believed a fully fenced, decent playground could be built elsewhere in Civic Park to complement the existing facilities and create "a greater destination for all families."
Cr Jess Hamilton said she was a parent of a child on the spectrum and had deep compassion for families who required safe and secure parks.
"Having a fence through the middle of the existing park could limit access for many participants," Cr Hamilton said. "This may reduce the overall usability of the space for the broader community."
She believed learnings, thoughtful planning and inspiration from other all-abilities parks would ensure "no child or parent is left out of our public spaces."
Cr Suzanne Allen said she agreed with officers that fencing might disrupt the natural flow of Civic Park.
"I don't think it's quite the right place, the design is not there and I think we could probably do better," Cr Allen said.
However, she rejected suggestions within the report that "parents who advocate for fenced playgrounds are somehow avoiding their responsibilities."
Cr Ben Lucas admitted to being naïve to the needs for a fenced playground before a conversation with Ms Clarke.
"It might not be this park but it's an absolute need," Cr Lucas said.
Within this council's four-year term, he expressed hope of developing, or at least planning, "something really good; an icon of the shire."

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