Casey Council is inviting community feedback on a proposed lighting upgrade at Pearcedale Recreation Reserve, with local support or objections helping to strengthen a grant application to fund the project.
Council is seeking to apply for grant funding through the Sport and Recreation Victoria Country Football Netball Program to upgrade the reserve’s main oval lighting.
Community and Stakeholder Engagement is a key assessment criterion, accounting for 20 per cent of the total evaluation for the grant. The maximum grant amount is $250,000 per council.
According to the Council, the project will replace the existing lighting poles and infrastructure, which are no longer fit for use.
The upgraded system will feature LED lights delivering 100 lux illumination, ensuring safe and compliant lighting for both user groups and the wider community.
This project was identified as part of the Pearcedale Recreation Reserve Master Plan.
The community consultation involves only one question: “Do you support or object to the lighting upgrade project?”
The respondents can either choose “Support” or “Object”.
The reserve has two football/cricket ovals with sports lighting, with the front oval as Oval 1 (main oval) and the rear as Oval 2.
Troy Gent, vice president of Pearcedale Football Club, believed the lighting upgrade is a much-needed project.
“The Council had a fantastic job renovating the building and renovating the netball courts, but the oval and the lights of the oval haven’t been upgraded for over 10 years,” he said.
“The lights are of very poor quality in regard to covering the ground, and versus all the other grounds within the Casey community, we would argue, these are probably the worst, which means it’s very difficult to train effectively and properly at night for the kids and for the adults, especially in the pockets of the field where the light’s just not getting good coverage.
“The rear lights are worse than the front lights, but the front lights are certainly not to the standard that’s needed in order to train effectively and even to play.
“We’d love to play more and more night games, but it’s very difficult to play under the conditions that we have with those lights.”
Mr Gent said the club had grown considerably over the last couple of years, with now over 300 juniors playing football at the ovals.
“I believe you should have about 100 lux, and ours are they’re probably 50 per cent of the 100 lux,” he said.
“We’re hoping they’ll upgrade both.
“We want them to at least take the lights from the front oval and move them to the back oval and replace the gloves while they’re doing all the development, so at least it can improve the back oval until they can afford to do the back oval as well.
“But, really, we need the light of the front oval done, and we need it done quickly, and we would love to have it done across the summer period so that when we come back to play football next season, we’ve got lights that are effective and safe for our players and children to train under.”
Cranbourne Gardens Ward Councillor Michelle Crowther said many members of the Pearcedale community had contacted her about improving the lighting at the Pearcedale Recreation Reserve.
“I attended a recent match and spoke to Pearcedale Football Club vice president Troy Gent about the need for improved lighting to accommodate the increasing number of football teams training on the ovals,” she said.
“Improved lighting is required so the entire oval can be used safely to accommodate the growing number of teams.”
Council recently endorsed the spending for the $390,000 Oval 1 floodlight upgrade in the 2025-26 Budget.
According to the reserve’s Master Plan, which was adopted back in 2021, the lighting upgrade (100 lux) for the Oval 2 was estimated to be $400,000.
To support or object to the lighting upgrade, visit: conversations.casey.vic.gov.au/pearcedale-recreation-lighting-upgrade
The consultation is now open and will close on Friday 4 July at 12pm.
