The newly-established Save Jerry Bailey Oval group is adamant the majority of people in Shoalhaven Heads do not want a BMX pump track on Jerry Bailey Oval.
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The campaign to build the track has gained traction with Shoalhaven City Council in recent months, and last week council announced it was taking submissions on the proposal to build the track, lodged by the community forum.
Save Jerry Bailey Oval president Jack Doherty contacted Fairfax Media to air his grievances with the proposal to build a BMX circuit, lodged by the Shoalhaven Heads Community Forum.
“The idea of a track is a beat-up by the forum committee and the few that want a track,” Mr Doherty said.
“There are already two bike tracks on Jerry Bailey Oval used by bikers, skateboard and scooter riders.”
Mr Doherty cited 2016 census data indicating there are around 3000 Shoalhaven Heads residents, with a median age of 56.
Save Jerry Bailey Oval members believe there is no need for a track like this in a town largely comprised of retired residents.
The community forum would argue the population swells in summer and school holidays, bringing young families to the area who will use the park.
Meanwhile Save Jerry Bailey Oval, established in March 2017, has slammed the community forum for scoring petition signatures at the local bottle shop.
“The forum states they have 950 signatures on a petition,” Mr Doherty said.
“A lot of the local signatures come from a three-week period the forum had a petition in the local bottle shop. Associating kids with the alcohol industry is, to say the least, unethical.”
The Save Jerry Bailey Oval group believes the track will provide a setting for anti-social behaviour.
“Locals who built the skate park do not want another track on the Oval because of social issues,” Mr Doherty said.
“For example, all night parties around the bike tracks, underage drinking, urinating openly and around the edge of bush.
“Ninety-nine per cent of dirt track users are older boys and youth. It is not a family activity. It does not meet the activity needs of girls or the disabled. The proposal is sexist and discriminatory and in this time of intense awareness of family and domestic violence, unsupervised youth on Jerry Bailey Oval can only foment toxic male behaviour.”
They also raised environmental concerns about the location of the track.
“It’s home to one of the Head’s endangered ecological communities...dumping tonnes of asphalt next to the tree line will further degrade it,” Mr Doherty said.
“And not to mention probable further degradation with kids roaming through the tree line. Unsociable behaviour is not welcomed. Nor is mess and rubbish which will spread out over Jerry Bailey Oval rather than be restricted to the skate park. And of course, the added risk to kids of red bellied black snakes in the tree line.”
While council is only funding a small part of it, it’s a council project, requiring approvals before it’s passed.
If you would like to lodge a submission for or against the proposal, visit council’s website for more information and respond by Friday, September 7.
