Canning mayor, councillor butt heads over claims Ferndale Reserve upgrade will leave hockey club worse off

A multi-million dollar plan to upgrade a sports reserve led to City of Canning mayor Patrick Hall attempting to silence a fellow council member. The Canning council was asked at its March 17 meeting to award a contract for the construction of a new pavilion at Ferndale Reserve. The city has received nearly $4 million in State funds for the pavilion, which will have gender-neutral change rooms, a social hall, storage areas, upgraded accessibility provisions and improved viewing access to all three playing fields at the reserve. There will also be landscaping and a new carpark, and oval re-orientation is being considered. But it will come at the expense of the Canning Districts Hockey Club, as the works require the removal of a mini-pitch. The hockey club will retain use of the grass fields and the city is working with the club to find alternative options for training. This was not enough to appease Cr Michelle Hurn, who was the sole council member to vote against awarding the contract for the pavilion. “From the outset, when city officers advised the hockey club president that the mini-pitch was an eyesore, it is apparent that the demolition of the hockey club’s meagre resource was a priority,” Cr Hurn said. “While millions are being budgeted for a carpark and landscaping overhaul, the hockey club has effectively been told to suck eggs and relocate out of the City of Canning.” Mr Hall interrupted at this point to question the relevance of what Cr Hurn was saying. They talked over each repeatedly in the ensuing argument. “The motion is to accept the tender... not to rehash the history of the Canning Hockey Club,” Mr Hall said. “What you’re actually discussing at the moment is not relevant to the matter in front of us. “I’m not entertaining an argument with you, councillor.” Cr Hurn asked for confirmation the project would involve the demolition of synthetic hockey turf, at which point Mr Hall moved that Cr Hurn no longer be heard. No other council member supported this and Mr Hall allowed Cr Hurn to resume speaking, but warned her not to “re-hash” what had already been talked about. Cr Hurn continued to push the point after CEO Michael Littleton confirmed the hockey turf would be decommissioned, but Mr Hall maintained it was not relevant. “I wish you would stop speaking over the top of me, councillor,” Mr Hall said. “I’ve now asked you three times not to do that. I’ve ... asked you to show some respect and yet every time I start to speak, you start to speak over the top of me and I don’t understand why you keep doing that. “If you disagree with the fact that the hockey club will be not closed, but they will lose the temporary facility they have for training, I’m OK with that. “But to go infinitum back to the history of it is not relevant to this matter. I think you’ve made your position very clear on that, so I just ask you to move it along.” Cr Hurn said the pavilion could have been positioned in a way that did not compromise the future of the hockey club and its loss would reduce female participation in sport. “The tender we are being asked to award will seriously disadvantage one of the stakeholders and (would) most likely signal their ultimate demise is not being made clear to the council or the public,” she said. Other councillors acknowledged the impact the project would have on the hockey club but believed it would be for the greater good. Deputy mayor Mark Bain said he wanted it on the record the city would try find the club a new training venue that was preferably in the city. “New change rooms and club room for Ferndale Park have been a long time in the making and the time has finally arrived for them to be built,” he said. “I met with the Ferndale Lynwood Cricket Club committee over four years ago to discuss improving the old facilities, which were struggling to meet the club’s needs and future plans. “I’m just so pleased for the cricket club and the Lynwood Ferndale footy club as well. They are going to get the contemporary top-end facility and home they deserve. “It really is great to think that many future generations of footballers, cricketers, male and female, juniors and adults will be making connections, having fun, and playing sport using the new pavilion for at least the next 25 years.” Cr Ben Kunze, who declared an impartiality interest as a life member of the Lynwood Ferndale Football Club, said the project would breathe new life into the precinct. “I appreciate that Canning Districts Hockey Club would prefer to keep their synthetic court for their training... and I trust staff will continue working with the Canning Districts Hockey Club to look at ways to solve their training issues,” he said. “The impact of the new building and the ancillary works will have for the Lynwood Ferndale community will be immense. “In recent years, junior girls playing football have had to drive north of the river in peak hour traffic to play their home games due to no oval capacity in the neighbouring area. “The reconfiguration of the ovals will solve an issue that has long been an issue at Ferndale Reserve where shots at goal on the Blancoa (Road) side meant that the ball would be lost into the drainage basin, and this should no longer be an issue.”