Landcare, residents fight back over Tranmere BMX track plan at the Gums

Another controversy has broken out over plans to build a BMX facility for local youth, amid accusations boys were cutting down trees in a reserve to make their own track.

A Landcare group and residents at Tranmere are fighting Campbelltown Council’s proposal for a BMX bike track in natural bushland along Third Creek in Gums Reserve.

The site is close to an existing “homemade” bike track with dirt jumps, where the landcare group claimed youths had felled several 30 to 40-year-old trees and cut back other shrubs to create a circuit.

Landcare volunteers and concerned residents want the council to consider an alternative site on the southern side of Shakespeare Ave that has parking, toilets and BBQ facilities as well as an outdoor gym, basketball ring and playground.

But consultation with households within 300m of the site identified a single potential site close to the existing homemade track. Feedback closed on Tuesday.

Local kids Hamish, Imogen, Michael and Henry at the Gums Reserve, Tranmere. Picture Emma Brasier.

The unofficial bike track in The Gums Reserve. Picture: Campbelltown Council.

The council said in the information sheet their proposed site was chosen because it is an open, grassed area without the presence of remnant vegetation, screened by existing gum trees, away from roads and the creek bank.

“There would be minimal impact to existing park users as it is away from pedestrian trails and the more active part of the reserve south of Shakespeare Ave,” it said.

Some residents have suggested the choice of site was influenced by the fact that the Deputy Mayor Therese Britton-La Salle lives on Shakespeare Ave. She has excluded herself from votes on the bike track proposal due to a conflict of interest.

Mayor Jill Whittaker said the proposal came up as a result of the landcare group seeking a solution to perceived problems in the park, where at least nine young people had created a small homemade bike track with dirt jumps in the reserve.

“Obviously, there‘s lots of competing interests and there’s a contested space, as happens all over the city with open space,” she said.

“Other areas have their own issues … Children have a right to play and bikes are legal in the Gums.”

Location of Campbelltown Council’s proposal for a BMX bike track in natural bushland along Third Creek in the Gums Reserve, Tranmere.

The location proposed for the new track in The Gums Reserve. Picture: Campbelltown Council.

At the council meeting on September 7, Katia Gould accompanied five students believed to be from Rostrevor College (Kristian, Max, Lachie, Fergus and Connor) who spoke to the council about riding their bikes in the Gums Reserve.

The council then resolved to support a dirt bike track at the Gums Reserve, consult with residents and develop a plan and guidelines in consultation with the riders and the Gums Landcare group.

The Landcare group maintains that the northern section of the Gums Reserve is a valuable and fragile remnant area of cultural and environmental significance.

Artist impression of Campbelltown Council’s proposal for a BMX bike track in natural bushland along Third Creek in the Gums Reserve, Tranmere. Picture: Campbelltown Council

Tranmere mother of two Alex Cameron said she signed the landcare group’s petition against the bike track because the proposed site was not appropriate, “it’s a very serene, peaceful area for walks that we use”.

“We think that having it in the Gum’s playground area would be better,” she said.

“There’s nothing really for older kids there apart from that one basketball ring … if they could do it there we fully support it.”