Lawn bowlers get 11th hour lifeline to keep playing at North Manly greens
NORTH Manly Bowling Club has been thrown an eleventh hour lifeline by Northern Beaches Council, which has offered to maintain two bowling greens and provide access to the building.
Manly
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NORTH Manly Bowling Club has been thrown an eleventh hour lifeline by Northern Beaches Council, which has offered to maintain two bowling greens and provide access to the building.
Late Friday, Mayor Michael Regan said an offer of a one-year lease to the Manly Warringah Leagues Club is still on the table but if they walk away Council will step in to help the bowlers left behind.
The leagues club and bowling club merged last year to strengthen a war chest to tender for the 30-year lease and build a new multipurpose sports club for District Park.
The leagues club and bowling club merged last year to strengthen their bid for a 30-year lease to manage District Park. But Manly Leagues announced the bowling club closure after it did not win the tender.
The news the council would step in was taken well by bowlers, but regular drinkers at the club- who were holding a wake-style farewell on Friday — saw little relief. Vincent Taylor was among them, and said the club provided a social outlet for many.
“We have never been really told much about the whole process,” Mr Taylor said.
“There has not been a clear answer on it. If they told us what was going to happen, maybe we would be more accepting.
“We are only social members, we come down to drink and socialise with each other so keeping the greens open doesn’t help us.”
The men’s bowls president Ross Aldridge said he had spoken with the council and was hopeful the Leagues Club would also come on board to allow the club to stay open for at least two months while the tender process is finished.
“We would love it, it would be fantastic if we could do something like that,” he said.
The 62ha site in Manly Vale includes the bowling club, Warringah golf course, a recreation centre, rugby league and futsal facilities.
The move comes following a halt on negotiations with preferred tenderer Arena REIT and ClubLinks at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
Politicking was in full swing, with a number of councillors pandering to the larger than usual attendance, with the rescission motion planned to allow second tenderer — Warringah golf Course, Next Generation Fitness and Tennis Australia — a seat at the table.
But the meeting finished at 11.30pm without a new plan being put in place, leaving the entire precinct in limbo.
Councillor David Walton, who moved the rescission motion, said he did so because “members of the community contacted us with their disappointment over the previous motion to only negotiate with Arena”.
“We moved the motion to support the community and support the community clubs,” he said.
Another signatory on the rescission motion Stuart Sprott said the rescission was a “great outcome”.
“I am just really happy for the local community they now have a seat at the table to negotiate for a better outcome for the community.”
Suggestions of conflicts of interest of some councillors were thrown about at the meeting in Tuesday, with particular aim taken at Mayor Michael Regan.
An infuriated Cr Regan told the Manly Daily yesterday there were no such conflicts of interest. He said it was disappointing some councillors were seeking to politicise such an important issue, and had now put the entire process in jeopardy.
“These Liberal councillors with their politicking are now putting in jeopardy two tenderers willing to invest up to $20 million in capital renewal and additional infrastructure for the community, for what?”
“They whipped up a frenzy, an angry mob with false accusations and false news on Facebook, saying we were privatising District Park,” he said.
“Yet both tenders proposed exactly the same funding model form private entities — Next Generation and Arena — to fund the significant infrastructure upgrades, and additional community infrastructure.”
He said council chambers were not the place to be chasing further political aspirations, pointing to a number of Liberals hoping to enter parliament.
“They’re using this as training for the bear pit, and that is not what our community wants,” he said. “The community wants us to work together and make the right decisions, not create fake news and angry mobs and stage manage crowds.”
Members of the Save District Park group attended the meeting in force, and handed in a petition with more than 4000 signatures calling for the tender process to stop.
One of the group’s spokesman Matt Ingersole told the Manly Daily there request was still the same.
“I think the petition says it all, the council needs to go back to the drawing board and think this through and maybe do a bit more consultation,” he said.
The group will meet with Cr Regan on Monday to discuss the future of District Park.
IN the meantime, Cr Regan said the council’s maintenance of the greens was a short-term solution while the council decided the long-term future of the site.
“It gives members an opportunity to keep meeting and doing the sport they love and gives the Club more time to consider options for the longer term.
“The alternative is the unacceptable outcome that a valuable community asset sits unused.”