Manly Life Saving Club in line for funding to upgrade clubhouse following Stuart Ayres visit
A push to have a new surf lifesaving club built at one of Sydney’s most iconic spots has gained momentum, with Sports Minister Stuart Ayres urging the council to apply for funding from him.
Manly
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A PUSH to have a new Life Saving Club built in Manly has gained momentum, with Sports Minister Stuart Ayres urging the council to apply for funding from him after a tour of the site.
Mr Ayres and Manly MP James Griffin toured the site earlier this week with Club President Chris Bell who pointed out a number of issues, with the deteriorating site.
It follows a Manly Daily article earlier this month in which Mr Bell said the headquarters were “bursting at the seams”.
He pointed to a lack of storage and training space for the growing number of volunteer members at one of Australia’s best-known surf clubs.
Mr Ayres said the state of the clubhouse was not up to scratch.
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist as you wonder around this facility to recognise that this old girl has probably seen better days,” he said.
“It is an iconic club that is not in an iconic building and I think that is the missing gap here.
“You have one of the best known beaches, an iconic beach in NSW with over three million visitors.
“It is a very important club for the local community, it is one of he best performing surf life saving clubs in NSW when it comes to high performance athletes, it provides the public amenities for usage of the beach.”
Ideally the club would like to knock down and rebuild the site at an estimated cost of $7 million.
Mr Ayres said money was available — with $100 million allocated over three years for such projects through the Greater Sydney Sports Facilities Fund — but the council would have to also stump up some funds for the upgrade.
“I think for what I have seen here you are talking about a substantial investment,” he said.
“It would be co — contribution … so there is an obligation on the council (which owns the clubhouse) to do its job here and that is to make sure it plans the development of a facility it owns.
“But we recognise there is a role here for us to play.”
Mr Griffin said he had urged the Sports Minister to come inspect the site following the Manly Daily’s campaign.
“I am a member of the club and was the junior club captain in my younger days,” he said.
“It is evident that the club needs some significant work, it hasn’t changed since it was built.
“It is in dire need of a rebuild and as I said I would I would advocate for Manly that is why I have got the minister for sport out here to do a tour of the club so he can understand first hand what needs to be done here.