Forestville RSL plans to replace greens with medical centre
TWO bowling greens at Forestville RSL would close permanently from March next year under a plan to build a “state of the art” medical centre in their place.
Manly
Don't miss out on the headlines from Manly. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Arena REIT walks away from District park negotiations with council
- Protests over new plan for lawn bowls, golf management
- North Manly bowlers seeking new home after club’s closure
- North Manly Bowling Club to close its doors
TWO bowling greens at Forestville RSL would close permanently from March next year under a plan to build a “state of the art” medical centre in their place.
In a letter released to members on Thursday, the RSL’s board cited a decline in poker machine profits and the dip in people playing lawn bowls as the main reasons for the proposed change.
It has led to an online petition with more than 1200 signatures calling for the board of directors to reverse their decision.
Jason Urquhart started the petition calling for an urgent rethink by the RSL’s board.
“As a “valued member” of the club and grandson of one of your devoted bowlers who has bowled at Forestville for over 20 years, I am absolutely appalled to hear this,” the letter adjoining the petition said.
“My Grandfather is 89 this year... He thoroughly enjoys the competition and it really makes his week going to bowls. To know that my grandfather will soon find out about this proposal breaks my heart, because I know it will hurt him immensely.
“The bowls at Forestville RSL is one of the only places in the community where the older generations can participate in a low impact sport.
“Removing these great facilities will lead to the bowling community having to move elsewhere, far away from the club.
May I stress, once these facilities are gone, they unfortunately will never come back. This is a major issue especially for our ageing population.”
In the board’s letter to all members it said the decision was made because “we need to be confident we can remain in a strong financial position now and into the future”.
“Since 2015, our revenue from poker machines has been declining at an increasing rate.
“Our forecasts for 2018 shows that revenue from poker machine profits will decline by over 11 per cent from 2016... it will be challenging for our club to break even this year which has been further catalyst for this change.”
The letter said lawn bowls patronage had dropped 21 per cent since 2014, while club membership had increased by 14 per cent in the same period.
The directors also cited a shortage in healthcare facilities around the Forestville area.
“This created opportunity for the club to improve access to the community,” the letter said.
“These gaps could be well served by a multipurpose medical facility housing both GPs, allied health and medical specialists.”
The club has promised to pay for the first year of membership for all bowlers who have to relocate to a new green.
Mr Urquhart argued that with the new Northern Beaches Hospital close by more health facilities were not needed.
“Why do we need another medical centre? There are many around Forestville, and a brand new one at the New Northern Beaches Hospital which already satisfies the communities needs,” the letter said.
“This development is highly unsuitable for this location.”
More detailed plans are expected to be made available to members by mid-December.