Club seeks council help on road

By Sarah Schwager
THE Cranbourne Racing Centre has appealed to Casey Council to help upgrade a road leading to the racecourse, which it says is used by many other residents.
Ron Mantel, Cranbourne Racing Centre chairman and Recreation Reserve Committee of Management member, made a presentation to the council on Tuesday night to help secure half of the funds required to upgrade Grant Street.
The road is used to access the racecourse, training complex, tennis courts, football and cricket ovals, Trio’s Tabaret and the swimming pool. On 4 April, following a request from the racing centre, the council resolved to contribute 24 per cent of the cost of the works, expected to total $230,000.
But Mr Mantel said the contribution only covered the 82 metres of Grant Street, off Sladen Street, that was council-owned and ignored the fact that traffic lights would need to be installed at Grant Street.
“Council has been enjoying access to the pool for a long, long time,” he said.
“Now that road is in a bad state of repair.”
Mr Mantel said while the council maintained it was not responsible for that road, as it was on Crown-owned land, the community had still been using the reserves, including the football and cricket ovals.
The council’s report stated that as the new Cranbourne and Aquatic Leisure Centre would be opening in 2008, it would no longer need access to the pool.
“That’s fine but we are going to be left with a wrecked road,” Mr Mantel said. “We were very disappointed with the council report.”
Mr Mantel said the Cranbourne Racing Centre and Recreation Reserve had been given a fair hearing on Tuesday night but some councillors were concerned that if they did contribute half of the funds, they would then be asked to contribute to other sections.
“We assured council that we were not setting a precedent and this was a one-off payment to get the road repaired,” he said.
The decision to contribute 50 per cent of the cost will go before the council at a later date.
Casey Council was unable to reply before the News went to print.