The following residents of the ACT draw to the attention of the Assembly:
There is extremely limited cricket infrastructure in eastern Belconnen to support the largest community cricket club in the ACT - Western Districts Junior Cricket Club.
The ACT Government only provides two artificial surface community-use cricket nets across Aranda, Bruce, Belconnen, Cook, Giralang, Evatt, Kaleen, Lawson, Mackellar, and Macquarie.
The four enclosed/locked nets at Kaleen are insufficient for the training needs of approximately 30 teams in West's junior and senior clubs.
The enclosed nets in Aranda have been deemed unsafe by Cricket ACT, yet investment in repairs or redevelopment have been blocked by ACT Sportsgrounds. And, the stop-gap solutions offered at Weetangera and Scullin have introduced other safety concerns.
We have repeatedly raised these issues with Cricket ACT and ACT Sportsgrounds.
Your petitioners, therefore, request the Assembly to call on the ACT Government to invest in additional club-only and community use cricket infrastructure in eastern Belconnen, co-located with West's home grounds:
OPTION 1: Repair the existing club-only nets at Aranda and provide additional community use nets nearby, or
OPTION 2: Expand the existing club-only nets at Kaleen Enclosed oval and provide additional community nets nearby, or
OPTION 3: Provide new club-only nets at Macquarie Enclosed Oval, and provide additional community use nets nearby.