The hockey and netball clubs built clubrooms at Egan Park Sporting Complex in the 1970’s via a loan from the Shire and in kind labour and donations from club representatives.  Hockey then installed lights upon commencement of the night/hard court hockey competition.  The night hockey competition attracted a large amount of players and was a strong competition until late 1990’s when it relocated to the Rec Centre, which unfortunately was the end of the competition.   In the 2000’s hockey laid an artificial surface on the netball court to train as the game changed from grass to turf.  The hockey clubs, both men and women, have continued to use the facility to train.

The idea of a sports precinct was bought forward by the Shire, hockey attended stakeholder meetings to enquire about hockey facilities, unfortunately when the Master Plan was published hockey saw no benefit in relocating to the facility and when asked to respond to Council on the Master Plan the Donnybrook Ladies Hockey Club wrote the following: 

“As a club we believe our current arrangement at Egan Park Sporting Complex to be sufficient to meet our needs. The Egan Park Sporting Complex hosts facilities including: clubrooms, a synthetic turf and lights. Therefore, Donnybrook Ladies Hockey Club will continue to remain in the same complex with the same arrangements in place. The proposed Master Plan with Plan B as the preferred model appears to be unsuitable for our needs due to the following:

1. The proposed rectangular pitch surface has not been identified and our sport requires a synthetic type surface, not grass.

2. Lighting for the rectangular pitch is not proposed until Stage 2, our club would only use the facility in the evening.

3. The shared clubroom space proposed at the football club is surplus to our club’s needs.

4. The overall cost of the plan is overwhelming to our club and efforts to assist with funding the proposal or ongoing costs would be difficult for our club to raise.  confirmed-minutes-ordinary-council-meeting-16-december-2020.pdf (donnybrook-balingup.wa.gov.au)  ATTACHMENT 9.3.2(2) VC MITCHELL PARK MASTER PLAN STAKEHOLDER GROUP RESPONSES.

Mid January 2020 a large piece of turf was stolen from the facility the theft was reported to police for investigation.  Unbeknown to the hockey clubs the Shire lodged $38,000 insurance claim to replace the turf.  As the hockey clubs were unaware of the insurance claim, they organised a busy bee and replaced the turf, self funding the replacement turf, providing labour and all associated costs.  The hockey clubs were continuing to make Egan Park their home.

On 30 October 2020, the Shire was advised that it will be eligible to apply for up to $467,000 in Federal funding under the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program – Extension Round (LRCI – Extension Round). At the November 2020 Ordinary Council Meeting, Council resolved to direct $67,000 of this funding towards asset works at the Balingup and Districts Recreation Centre and to survey the community in relation to the development of a Pump Track in Donnybrook.

A survey was conducted by the Shire of Donnybrook on the Shire website and the Shire Facebook account from 27.11.2020 – 04.12.2020 with a total of 229 respondents.  Of the 229 survey responses 205 people supported the use of the Federal funding for the development of a Pump Track in Donnybrook and 24 respondents did not support it or were unsure.  One could question if a week long electronic community survey is truly a valid reflection of community needs? 

At the Ordinary Council Meeting on 16 December 2020, an Executive Summary provided by the CEO stated that, "of the 205 respondents who supported the Pump Track, identified possible locations as:  netball/hockey area/Egan Park/Skate Park/Fun Park (87); BMX track (22); VC Mitchell Park precinct (18); and other (54)".

The Executive Summary provided the above-mentioned responses to Council with the grouped together areas of Fun Park; Egan Park; Skate Park and netball/hockey as the preferred option.  By grouping these areas together it gave Councillors a belief that the netball/hockey area was the preferable site for the placement of the proposed Pump Track.  This misleading information summarised and provided by the CEO enabled Councillors to believe that it was necessary to relocate hockey and netball from Egan Park to the proposed sports precinct, all elected members voted in favour except for Councillor Mitchell.  Members of the hockey clubs believe the CEO misrepresented the survey results to ensure hockey would have to relocate to the proposed sports precinct, even though at this stage the facilities for hockey were deemed as unsuitable.

The Preston Press July 2021 edition also took the Executive Summary and reported likewise, the article stated that the majority of respondents favoured the netball/hockey training pitch as the preferred site, unfortunately the Preston Press failed to investigate the actual survey results.  Unfortunately, this article gives the readers the misleading results presented to Council on 16 December 2020 and allows readers to believe the Executive Summary. 

The graph below identifies responses in the survey, which highlight a difference in the Executive Summary and the actual responses received from the survey (https://www.donnybrook-balingup.wa.gov.au/council-meetings/ordinary-council-meeting/december-council-meeting-2020/271/documents/attachments-ordinary-council-meeting-16-december-2020.pdf pages 185 - 193). 

The responses from the survey indicate that respondents preferred the Pump Track to be located close to the Fun Park area or at Egan Park or near the skate park.  Only 13 respondents actually stated that the location should be on the existing netball/hockey area.  In fact the most specific responses were for the Pump Track to be co-located with the current BMX track on Marmion Street.  A number of responses indicated other areas in Donnybrook whilst there were responses requesting the Pump Track be placed out of town.  Albeit, an electronic community survey can easily be misleading and if examined closely one could see that some of the responses could possibly be by the same respondent or even respondents from outside the Shire.  At the Ordinary Council Meeting on 16 December 2020 Councillor Mitchell queried the validity of the survey and before voting no.

The decision to relocate hockey will be at a cost of $222,000, remembering $38,000 is from the insurance claim, and at a cost of $240,000 or $250,000 in total.  This amount of funding was approved by Council at an Ordinary Council Meeting on 24 March 2021 and was conditional on the following: 

1. Shire funding for the works to be allocated from the Shire of Donnybrook Balingup Public Open Space (Donnybrook) Reserve Account.

2. The Department for Planning, Lands and Heritage and/or the Minister for Planning approving the use of these funds for this purpose.

3. The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries advising the Chief Executive Officer of its acceptance of these Shire works and Shire funding as a formal co-contribution towards its overall $3,000,000 project funding allocation.

Therefore upon approval, the Shire loan for the proposed sports precinct would be reduced by $250,000 ie. The loan application would then be a total of $2,750,000 and not $3,000,000.  The $250,000 would be allocated from the Shire Public Open Space Reserve Account instead.

The cost of a Pump Track will require a budget of approximately $650,000, this does not include the loss of an asset valued at approximately $100,000 and demolishing costs.  Yes the Shire are proposing to demolish a structurally sound building worth approximately $100,000.  Even if hockey were to be relocated, which they prefer not to, the infrastructure being demolished is wasteful to say the least.  Ms Glover the Chairperson for the Donnybrook Ladies Hockey Club, feels frustrated with Council's decision to force the hockey clubs out of their home and believes that destroying the infrastructure built and maintained by the members of a grass roots and self sustaining group is simply a waste of resources and extremely disrespectful. 

   To summarise:

   $250,000 to relocate the hockey,

   $400,000 proposed cost of the Pump Track (Federal funding)

   $100,000 for the loss on a structurally sound asset

   ??? demolishing expenses

   ??? asset annual maintenance of the Pump Track which has not been disclosed

It needs to be mentioned that demand on project building is at an all time high, building materials are in short supply in conjunction with the difficulty sourcing reputable building companies.  This equates to driving costs up and delays.  Although a pump track might be a valued asset to the community relocating hockey from it’s current facility, demolishing a building ongoing maintenance will all be at expense to the community.

To assist please speak to a Councillor to ask questions regarding the Pump Track, ask if there is an alternative location and most importantly do not allow the Shire to demolish a perfectly sound building.