Club told to move horses to make way for netball courts
A north Brisbane pony club has been given six weeks to remove their horses from council land to make way for a netball precinct.
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A NORTH Brisbane pony club has been given six weeks to remove their horses from council land to make way for a netball precinct.
Bramble Bay Pony Club in Fitzgibbon was told on Wednesday they had until May 21 to move so construction could start on the first stage of a $7 million netball precinct at Bill Brown Sport Reserve.
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When the precinct was announced in November last year, council said it would help the 40-year-old club relocate from Telegraph Rd to a new purpose-built site off Roghan Rd.
However council deemed the proposed new site unsuitable because of remediation issues which would cost about $2.7 million to address.
Council suggested another site, but the pony club said it wasn’t suitable because of its proximity to a train line and the highway and it was prone to flooding.
Pony club vice-president Amy Jenkinson said members were upset after being told by council staff yesterday they had to move, with no new site to move to.
“I feel lied to,” Ms Jenkinson said.
“We were told the club was going to expand, and there’ll be room to grow. We had been given all the plans and the green light to go ahead.
“Months went by and we didn’t hear from council, then about February we were told the (Roghan Rd) site was no longer suitable as they said it was going to cost too much money.
“They suggested another site on Telegraph Rd near Musgrave Ave, but that’s pretty horrible.
“It’s next to a train track and not far from the highway, and we would have to walk on the road to get into the area.
“There are a lot of trees and council said they couldn’t clear them. There’s also no grass on the site and the area floods.
“We never objected to the fact we were going to move, but now we don’t have anywhere to go in the area.”
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A Council spokesman said, “Council has worked closely with the Bramble Bay Pony Club for more than 12 months to seek an alternate location to their current leased site.
“Council proposed two alternate sites at Roghan Rd and Musgrave Ave, however these were not considered appropriate for the pony club’s needs.
“As a result of the pony club’s requirements, an alternate site was not able to be found.”
However Cr Amanda Cooper (Bracken Ridge) hasn’t given up hope of being able to help the club and will meet with members next week.
“We’ve been trying to find suitable options and the options we’ve come up with are either extremely costly or the club doesn’t find them suitable,” Cr Cooper said.
“With the Roghan Rd site the costs were coming in something in the order of $2.7 million because of remediation issues. That’s a huge amount of money when the project we want to build is in the region of $7 million.
“I think the club just wants time to be able to get options and I’ll be doing everything I possibly can to assist them to see if we can minimise any impact on them.
“We might be able to give them longer, or we may be able to shift them to one half of the site.”
Ms Jenkinson said council staff said they might be able to fence off a small area at the back of the Telegraph Rd paddock, “but we wouldn’t have electricity, there would be nowhere to ride and we would have to park on the street and duck under the fence”.
She said members had been checking Google maps for potential sites “but we don’t know what’s council owned or privately owned”.
“Everything we suggest to council has been shot down because of what type of land it is and costs. Council said they only have half a million dollars to spend to relocate us.”
Ms Jenkinson said their current options were “potentially selling our horses, giving up our sport, or moving our horses”.
The club currently has 11 horses on 14 acres at Telegraph Rd, and Ms Jenkinson said they would need at least 12 acres to operate the club.
All members live around Bracken Ridge and look after their horses twice a day, including riding them most nights.
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