Frankston Basketball Stadium revamp collapses after council walks away due to bitter spat
BASKETBALL Victoria has slammed a council’s decision to withdraw from the $12 million Frankston Basketball Stadium overhaul over a bitter stoush.
South East
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BASKETBALL Victoria has slammed a council’s decision to withdraw from the $12 million Frankston Basketball Stadium revamp.
Basketball Victoria CEO Nick Honey said the council’s decision to remove funding support was “extremely disappointing”.
“The residents of Frankston deserve better and most importantly — deserve a modern stadium heading into the future,” Mr Honey said.
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“It is our hope the project remains viable even without council’s financial contribution and Basketball Victoria will work in conjunction with Frankston District Basketball Association (FDBA) to make it happen.”
Mr Honey said ratepayers should question the “inability of council to enhance the sporting community’s viability through infrastructure projects like Frankston Stadium”.
The council pulled out of the project following months of acrimonious negotiations with the FDBA over a new lease for the stadium.
Mayor Colin Hampton accused the association of reneging on agreements and trying to drive “too hard a bargain”.
“Agreements that were made at an earlier meeting on lease arrangements, project scope and for the FDBA to provide full financial accounts have failed to be met and for this reason the project cannot continue,” he said.
“Nobody is a winner out of this. We were ready and willing to commence work on delivering a terrific updated facility.
“We will refocus our efforts on providing improved basketball facilities in other ways for our community.”
FDBA president Gary Emery said the association had submitted a signed lease to council last week hoping this would provide a circuit breaker to negotiations and allow the project to start.
Mr Emery said the FDBA would work with the state and federal governments, which committed $5.2m and $2.5m respectively, to restart the project.
Dunkley federal Liberal MP Chris Crewther said: “I’ll be working with all parties to ensure a stadium goes ahead using our $5.2 million on the existing site if a new agreement can be reached or on an alternative site if it can’t.”
The original funding model for the stadium included money from the State and Federal Governments, along with council ($4 million) and the FDBA ($1 million).