Ivanhoe’s much loved Chelsworth Park, on the Yarra flood plain near the southern entrance to Banyule, is currently being considered for a 20 +10 year Commercial Lease between Banyule City Council (BCC) Ivanhoe Grammar School (IGS) - A commercial entity.

TIME to COMMENT on the CHELSWORTH IGS LEASE !!

With the release of the proposed Banyule Council Chelsworth Park / IGS 30 year LEASE

TUES 12th AUGUST for 28 Days comment ONLY 

WE encourage you to make a submission on the Lease

Submissions MUST BE in by SEPT 9th 2014  

A commercial lease threatens the ability of our community to decide how the park will be used; Over a period of high expected population growth in Melbourne, and a growing reduction in private residential space - as the number of multi-unit dwellings increase, due to Government policy.

Many residents of Banyule oppose this move and believe that:

1. Restrictions on the availability of the park, for both passive and active use - if leased to a private entity, are not in the community’s long-term interests. 
2. Banyule City Council needs to step up to the mark and provide first-rate facilities for the ratepayers of Banyule in all its parks and for all its schools to share equally - rather than over-use some parks (nearby Ivanhoe Park) and under use and under support others (Ford Park). Council needs to do more to ensure that passive recreation, and the riverine environment for which Chelsworth Park is famous, are fully protected into the future. 
3. More transparency is needed – Governance and Financial Reporting conditions under the current IGS peppercorn lease, have NOT been met (- despite fees from the Clubs using the Park going to IGS); In addition, Chelsworth Park continues to receive favourable infrastructure funding from Council - while other Parks miss out. Why ?  

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Write a submission on the PROPOSED 30 YEAR LEASE: ( SEE details of addresees below as well as some extra comments on the Lease )

Insist Council rent the land at commercial rates over the short term, - Perhaps 5 yearly maximum periods - with renewals only where spare time and playing surface capacity exists, and after community needs are met .

 (This could involve IGS marking, mowing, and watering the grounds as now, - as payment in kind , but with Council managing all infrastructure and community bookings)

Insist BCC control all signage, bookings, payment and community liaison (as with its other parks )

Insist that NO EXTRA private use be granted; Instead, over time, private use will be reduced while increasing community needs (both passive and active) are met.

THE NEW IGS 30 YEAR LEASE IS ON COUNCILS WEBSITE  

IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT PROPOSED INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS - INCLUDING GATES / FENCES / BUILDING EXTENSIONS / EXCLUSIVE USE OF HARD PAVED TENNIS COURTS / CLUB FEE PAYMENT TO IGS / and BENEFITS TO IGS OF FREE WATER FROM THE WATER HARVESTING PROJECT. IT LACKS  DEFINED HOURS OF USE BY IGS AND EXISTING CLUBS ( ie will IGS  hours increaseand other clubs decrease ? ) ;  AND DEFINED HOURS OF NON USE ( iE PASSIVE RECREATION ALLOCATIONS (currently Sunday is Sport Free - will this still be true under the NEW PROPOSED LEASE ? )

Written submissions submitted to Council must be received by

5.00 pm on 9 September 2014

and should be addressed to the

Chief Executive Officer, Banyule City Council

and delivered to 275 Upper Heidelberg Road Ivanhoe or posted to PO Box 51 Ivanhoe 3079. 

EMAIL enquiries@banyule.vic.gov.au

WHAT ABOUT THE CURRENT LEASE? :

The previous (or currently operating) IGS Lease IS still available at the Ivanhoe Town Hall for public viewing - Details in the Lease can be transcribed during a viewing but NO photocopies or photos may be taken. Contact Emily Outlaw ( emily.outlaw@banyule.vic.gov.au ) OR call Emily via Banyule reception 94904222 - to arrange an appointment in business hours.

FHI Reps have viewed the current and other past IGS of Leases of Chelsworth as well as the current proposed 30 year Lease.  We would be happy to compare the notes we took with others of previous Leases. To discuss these with you - as well as discussing the current PROPOSED 30 year Lease - Please email us via this websites' Contact Page - to arrange a meeting or phone call

See our collected comments in full on the Previous Fact Sheets ( 1 and 2 ) produced by Council in our Chelsworth Park News page :- a couple are also produced below for you to consider

Recently several local public tennis courts have been put up for sale and redevelopment

The Uniting Church In Ivanhoe is to sell three properties - two have tennis courts, one a hall and another a public allotment garden - all recreational and learning facilities that will be lost to the public. It is hard to see where replacement land can be found for such activities as land prices spiral and the population and thus demand grows heavily.

Below - A past furore over the loss of public tennis courts - the courts at Ivanhoe Park - beside Ivanhoe Croquet Club - both organisations in use for many decades - and now arguments about which can have space ( 2011) - Surely a sign of things to come as Melbournes population continues to grow ..........

Volley over Ivanhoe East courts

from The Heidleberg Leader

5 Jul 11 @ 06:01am by Blair Corless

On Monday Oct 7th the Councils proposed Sport and Recreation Policy (see item below) goes to council on the same night as it considers the Residents Petition regarding Ivanhoe Grammar and Chelsworth Park ( also see items below )

There is concern for a percieved lack of opportunity for community input to the consultation for both the Policy and the Booking System for Chelsworth Park and this is echoed in concern about the short timeline of two weeks for commenting on the Final Draft of the Policy and ( originally ) the IGS Development Plan. The IGS control of Bookings for Chelsworth Park decision was made at an in Camera meeting of Council in 2012 - with NO ADVERTISING OF AN AGENDA and no advertising of the decision - as in camera meetings are basically discussions held in SECRET

It is interesting that the agenda papers for the Monday 7th Counil Meeting discuss the Human Rights which neeed to be afforded to citizens in regarding to access to sport and opportunitites to comment on policies that affect that access - This is quite inetresting as residents are currently complaining about exaclty this in the Chelworth Petition ( below), and ASKING for a Public Meeting where all matters pertaining to Chelsowrth Park, its use and its Bookings arrangements, can be discussed in an open public forum - where everybody has the opportunity to comment on all aspects of the plan AND to hear the ideas and views of others AND to hear Council explanations of its actions

This is open government and democracy that the residents of Ivanhoe, East Ivanhoe and Eaglemont are asking for - and possibly also we are asking for our basic human rights to be considered - Up until now residents may have had that general feeling that these were their unalienable rights - but perhaps MONDAYS AGENDA demonstrates this is actually the case in current state law ? - and as such this adds surely MORE WEIGHT to the residents arguments ..

People are encouraged to come to the Council Meeting at 7.30pm on Monday 7th October to register to speak and have their voices heard as much as possible in the brief time allowed at the meeting - about the Chelsworth Booking Sytem and the Recreation Policy - Call Councils customer service staff for more information PHONE 94902222 on how to participate either by speaking to an Agenda Item or asking a question at the start of the meeting in QUESTION TIME - both speaking lists require a name to be given prior to the meeting

In late August 2013 Banyule's staff advertised a new Sport and Recreation Policy on the Council Website - While ONLY ADVERTISED for 2 WEEKS for public comment and as far as we ascetain, - with NO PUBLIC meetings held about this Policy, - several residnets did take the opportunity to respond briefly to the policy - The fairyhillsivanhoe group had only noticed the policy by accident on the last two days of advertising - so there was not much time to alert residents very widely about this in time to comment / Several Residents also had trouble accessing the online comment section of the website - so a pretty low response rate was probalby registered

The Policy was a hefty one with a large swathe of action statements and applicable timelines -- Residents were concerned however about the lack of detail regarding Chelsworth Park and the emphasis lacking on PASSIVE use - One exmaple of a submission is shown below ( Sent to Alison Beckwith who heads the Department concerned with Sport and recreation and ultimately responsible for preparing the policy ) :

Dear Allison,

I would like to comment on the Recreation Policy.

I think there is much to like in the document especially the recognition of “walking” – I especially commend you on statements such as “Therefore it is important for Council to recognise this community preference, and ensure appropriate community infrastructure is developed along Banyule’s shared trails”.

Whilst I like the policy overall, I am very disappointed to see that Chelsworth Pk and Wilson Reserve fail to score a mention! As a resident of The Boulevard, Ivanhoe, for more than 25 yrs, I access Chelsworth Pk and the bike/walking trails via Wilson Reserve. The other important point about the area between Chelsworth Pk, Wilson Reserve and the Yarra River are the series of lagoons (former “aboriginal” hunting & fishing areas), which are the closest ones to the Melbourne CBD and need to be preserved.

I was walking, jogging and running down by the Yarra River and on Chelsworth Pk on Sunday 1^st September and counted no fewer than 25 people of all age groups, some families, and “dog walkers” at close to sunset. This is an important community resource, needs to be listed in any formal document, and should be preserved.

You may not be aware that there are an enormous number of community “social” tennis players that use the Chelsworth Pk courts every weekend, and that every Sunday morning there are two “social” soccer games on Chelsworth Pk ovals. These non-competitive activities of Banyule residents need to be mentioned in this document and these individuals should not be forgotten in attempts to promote “formal competitive” sports in the Banyule area.

I strongly believe that Chelsworth Pk and Wilson Reserve should be specifically mentioned in the policy document.

Yours sincerely,

Philip Beart

87-89 The Boulevard Ivanhoe

VIC 3079