NEWS DESK
Council axes basketball Council stadium decision stadium upgrade funding Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au
Continued from Page 1 The statement said council “will work with the state and federal government to ensure that the funds earmarked for the Frankston Basketball Stadium upgrade are reallocated to other sports projects in Frankston”. Basketball Victoria slammed council’s decision to withdraw funding and said Frankston residents should question “the inability of this council to support its constituents and enhance the sporting community’s viability through infrastructure projects like Frankston Stadium”. “It is our hope the project remains viable even without Frankston City Council’s financial contribution and Basketball Victoria will work in conjunction with Frankston District Basketball Association amongst others to make it happen,” Basketball Victoria CEO Nick Honey said. “Basketball Victoria will continue working to provide its member associations with new facilities and redevelopments to guarantee the future of Victorian basketball at all levels.” Federal Liberal Dunkley MP Chris Crewther said he will keep the $5.2 million federal contribution to any basketball stadium upgrade “on the table for a long time”. Mr Crewther said he is “disappointed” the FDBA and council could not reach an agreement to allow a stadium upgrade at the existing site. “I’ll be working with all parties to ensure a basketball stadium goes ahead using our $5.2 million on the
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existing site, if a new agreement can be reached, or on an alternative site if it can’t. “At worst, I will make sure that these funds are not lost to our area.” Carrum Labor MP Sonya Kilkenny did not respond to questions about the state government contribution of $2.5 million to the stadium upgrade. The FDBA said it will work with federal and state representatives to save the stadium upgrade without council involvement. “The FDBA, in an act of good faith, submitted a signed lease to council last week hoping this would provide a circuit breaker to negotiations and allow the project to commence,” Association president Gary Emery said. “This was obviously rejected by councillors but may enable the remaining funding partners to get on the with the job of building more courts. “Clearly there is an underlying financial motive in the councillors’ desire to withdraw from the project. It must be compelling considering they are walking away from a project which would return $3 for every $1 the ratepayer has invested into the project, along with the millions of dollars of state and federal government money tied to it.” Questions to council about how much money ratepayers will have to now fork out to builder Devco Project & Construction Management to not build the new stadium after council awarded the company the construction contract went unanswered last week.
Frankston Times 27 November 2017
A FRANKSTON Council pledge to work to rip federal and state funding away from a $12.7 million upgrade of the Frankston Basketball Stadium has been slammed by North-West ward councillor Glenn Aitken. Cr Aitken, who represents the Seaford area where the stadium is located, said he is “astonished at any suggestion that any funds would simply be somehow automatically reallocated to other projects”. “The state and federal government made a clear balanced and commendable commitment to Frankston Council and its residents with a specific outcome in mind,” Cr Aitken said. “The only people who have the ability or choice to renege on that part of the funding arrangement will in fact be the state or federal government. “It is not for any other level of government to suggest in any way or form what the state or federal government will do with its money.” The Times can reveal that, as part of new lease negotiations with the Frankston & District Basketball Association, council wanted the association to agree that only council’s CEO and mayor could talk publicly about the project in future in an apparent attempt to shut down public criticism of council’s role in the stadium funding stoush. North-West ward councillors Kris Bolam and deputy mayor Lillian O’Connor were approached last week to ask why they voted against ratepayer funding for a project in the ward
they represent. “It is disappointing but there are never any certainties when negotiating,” Cr Bolam said. “There are a number of local projects that are currently unfunded that could benefit from the ratepayers’ funds that were formerly earmarked for the Frankston Basketball Stadium upgrade”. Cr Bolam mentioned the Linen House redevelopment, a new Frankston Coastguard base, the Belvedere Bowls Club redevelopment and
mooted Centenary Park sports complex as projects seeking a contribution from ratepayers. Cr Bolam said that all community and sporting groups “seeking substantial funding for capital projects” in future “will now have to surrender their audited line-item financials prior to negotiations even beginning”. Cr O’Connor did not respond to a call asking for comment. Former Frankston mayor and NorthWest ward councillor James Dooley said council’s decision to walk away