Orange City Council is making steady progress at the site of Orange's new sports precinct, alongside Jack Brabham Park.
DRILLING: Geo-tech drilling crews were hard at work at the Sports Precinct site this week. The results will help design the foundation of both the athletics track grandstand and the main stadium.
With geo-tech drilling happening at the sports precinct site this week, alongside the installation of irrgation and drainage lines for eight new sporting fields, Mayor Jason Hamling is pleased to see the latest progress.
Orange Mayor Jason Hamling has responded to recent media coverage about the precinct.
"I understand that a negative article will work better when it comes to delivering click-bait online, but it's disappointing when coverage about the precinct is consistently one-sided," Mayor Jason Hamling said.
"It disappointing when someone reading some the coverage would be left with the impression that we haven't been in touch with the state government about the order in which parts of the project are being built, when the opposite is the truth.
"Right from the start this project has been managed by NSW Government's Public Works, with support from Orange City Council.
"For example, the latest stage of the on-site work this week is geo-tech drilling on both the athletics track site and the main stadium site. The results of this drilling, about soil types and the amount of rock on site, will tell designers what they need to know to build foundations for both the athletics grandstand and the main stadium.
"We're getting on with the job, with government oversight and involvement, while the negative coverage focusses on whether a letter was sent.
"While design work progresses on the athletics track and the stadium, contractors have already made good progress on irrigation and drainage for the eight new sports fields. Weather permitting, by this time next year, we'll be using those fields."
The facts:
Orange City Council wants to get both the new stadium and the new athletics track built as soon as possible to meet strong community support for this project.
In line with the Council motion, Council wrote to Member for Orange, Phil Donato in June who advised the council to contact the state government. This contact is happening routinely and includes discussion about the timeframe for the rollout and the sequencing of the project.
From the start the Sports Precinct project has been jointly managed with staff from NSW Public Works.
This means Council is having day to day contact with the state government about the details of the project. From time to time, there has also been contact with senior departmental and government leaders to keep them in touch with the directions of the project and the steady progress that's being made.
