Mitchell Shire Council's vision to develop Greenhill Recreation Precinct Wallan is a step closer with the Federal Government committing $8 million to kickstart the project if re-elected.
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was in Wallan on Thursday 28 April, with Liberal candidate for McEwen Richard Welch, to make the announcement. The $8 million will go towards installing services to the site as well as works to support commencement of a gymnastics facility.
This investment will help get the precinct underway and create funding opportunities for the next phases of the project.
Once complete, the vision for the Greenhill Recreational Precinct is to include:
- a dedicated gymnastics centre
- an indoor multi-sport centre
- outdoor sporting precinct with sportsfields and tennis facility
- an aquatic centre
- passive open space, including pathways to the Greenhill cone
- play space
The aim is to develop a premier sporting, recreational, and environmental precinct that can meet the needs of the existing and future Wallan community and importantly, encourage engagement and connectivity.
In the short term, initially the project's focus will be towards the commencement of a dedicated gymnastics facility which will ease demand for the court space at RB Robson Stadium in Wallan and LB Davern Reserve in Wandong.
Local families will be able to get their kids off waiting lists and involved with their preferred sport, whether it's basketball, netball, or gymnastics.
With more than 2500 participants using RB Robson's three-court and LB Davern Reserve's one-court stadiums every week, these facilities are at capacity.
Birralee Gymnastics has more than 350 registered participants - much higher than pre-COVID numbers for this time of the year - and more eager children on the waiting list.
Wallan Basketball's junior program has seen a 50 per cent increase in registrations this year. Their domestic teams have gone from having a one hour a week training session back to 15 minutes because there is not enough court space.
The representative program has gone from being able to use a full court to just half a court. Wallan Basketball president Tracy Connors said using a half court for basketball training was be like asking a tennis player to only work between the baseline and the net.
