Hills District Pony Club site to be redeveloped, fears for historic group’s future
A historic Sydney pony club could be stripped of its site and facilities for the development of sporting grounds, with representatives fearing for the future of the group.
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It is the institution that has called Castle Hill home for more than 50 years, but the Hills District Pony Club could be stripped of its site and facilities.
The decision by The Hills Shire Council to relocate the club, which could see it forced to amalgamate with its competition at Dural, comes amid plans to launch a formal request to the Federal Government to manage the site off Gilbert Rd, Castle Hill.
Hills District Pony Club secretary Renee Blefari said suggestions from council to move the historic group and its members to the Dural Pony Club site would result in it being forced to close.
“We are quite happy to sit and talk to council and come to a plan to move to a new site,” Ms Blefari said.
“But moving in with Dural Pony Club would be a last resort — our club would cease to exist.”
Mrs Blefari said there were no other pony club grounds in Sydney with enough land to hold major competitions — but with a large area comes big fees which the group struggle to cover.
“We spend tens of thousands of dollars to upgrade existing facilities and pay the rent and council fees each year,” she said.
“The uncertainty of the club’s future has meant we are refusing new members, which makes things incredibly difficult.
“We want to keep our own identity and the history of the club alive.”
Mrs Blefari said the club would support a plan reduce the size of the site to help provide land for sporting fields and reduce fees for the use of a smaller facility.
“We are quite happy to share the grounds and have on going discussions with council in regards to appropriate sporting groups that this would be possible with,” she said.
“This could be an option, however, we do still require a lot of the area for parking and camping when holding interclub and zone competitions.
A report by council’s forward planning co-ordinator said the Department of Industry identified the site as “under-utilised”, arguing the site could be used to meet “greater community demand for recreational facilities”.
“This will enable the delivery of new playing fields to support future population growth within the recently rezoned Showground Precinct,” The council representative said.
The co-ordinator said the increased residential development demand in the Castle Hill Showground precinct would see more than 10,700 new dwellings and 21,800 more people move to the area — sparking the need for four or five more playing fields.
A Hills Shire Council spokeswoman said it was mindful of existing users while planning for future growth.
“This a long-term strategy and Council and the Hills District Pony Club will continue to work together to identify suitable options,” she said.
“No specific sites have been identified and the (club) will continue to operate from its Fred Caterson Reserve location for some time.”
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