Soccer aunt slams 'outdated' One Mile car parks

Juliet Gold, 55, takes her six-year-old nephew Tyson to soccer training during the week and to matches on Saturday mornings.

MUDDY WATERS: Juliet Gold is one of many who are fed up with poor car park conditions at the One Mile complex. Picture: Josh Preston

A REGULAR visitor to Gympie's One Mile Ovals has voiced her frustrations over "outdated” parking structures at the Gympie Regional Council-managed complex.

Juliet Gold, 55, takes her six-year-old nephew Tyson to soccer training during the week and to matches on Saturday mornings at the Spencer Oval entrance off Crescent Rd.

Ms Gold said yesterday she has heard grumblings from "hundreds” of parents concerning limited space and poor road conditions at the site.

Juliet Gold. Picture: Josh Preston

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She said recent rainfall in Gympie created sizeable puddles and patches of sludge made worse by the constant flow of traffic travelling over the combination dirt and gravel track.

"There's a lot of people who use this oval, and I've never really looked that close, but it's worse than what I really thought,” she said.

"These ovals get very busy in the afternoons because everyone starts turning up for training.

"When the four-wheel drives turn up and drive over the puddles, they splash the water all over the place and create mud and sludge; they churn it all up and make it even worse.

"It fills up in five minutes. It's standing room only because there's hundreds of kids playing, so you have to contend with the conditions.

"This is how all of us start our Saturday morning.

"There's heaps of us who come here to bring their kids to soccer.”

Ms Gold said the entrance "never gets the chance to dry out” because of the "rainforest effect” brought on by extensive tree coverage.

She said she had "no bark with the council” but has "had enough” with the lack of action.

"If they wanted to patch it up in the meantime, they could spend a bit of money and grade it with heavy gravel, and at least then you'd have gravel.

"Or forget that and just do it; they really need to tar it.

"It's just a mess, and it's a constant thing.”

MUDDY WATERS: Juliet Gold is one of many who are fed up with poor car park conditions at the One Mile complex. Picture: Josh Preston

A spokeswoman said council "does not have any plans to update the car park within the next 12 months” but pointed to a 2016 five-year master plan for the complex, which included "formalised car parking” of 110 total bays at Kozminsky and Spencer Ovals.

"Council does not have plans to renew any bitumen at the site within the next 12 months, however acknowledges the need to renew bitumen in certain areas within the site,” the spokeswoman said.

"Council acknowledges the need to provide a safe, practical sporting complex for the Gympie community.

"Council will inspect the area of concern which has been highlighted.”

A copy of council's One Mile Master Plan is available online here, while all developments to Major Projects can be tracked here.