Mayor's Message Thursday 20 May 2021

One of the few positives of the COVID –19 period is more people taking part in unstructured recreation – walking, cycling, or just being in nature at one of our many reserves and parks.  

On the flipside, anecdotally it appears fewer people have returned to participation in organised sport than were doing so pre-COVID.  

So it’s terrific to have had two fantastic announcements in the past week that will have a big impact for some of our local sports clubs and associations.  

Last Friday I joined Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison at Victoria Park to announce, in between bursts of wind and rain, a $500,000 Victorian Government grant from the World Game Facilities Fund towards a new pavilion for the Victoria Park Vultures Football (Soccer) Club and the Lucas Cricket Club.   

The funds will go towards a $3.25 million City of Ballarat project to construct the Pavilion, which will include female friendly change rooms. The club’s present rooms will stay as the home of the Ballarat Dog Obedience Club.   

Soccer is one of our strongest participation sports, and Victoria Park is the gateway to our fast-growing western suburbs, so this upgrade will benefit hundreds of players at senior and junior levels. 

The new facilities, along with a magnificent new surface and match lights will help the club attract and retain players from our city’s west.  

And this week we also welcomed more than $1 million in Victorian Government funding for six new hot shots courts and other improvements at the Ballarat Regional Tennis Centre. 

We thank the Victorian Government for the support and look forward to seeing these two fantastic projects take shape over the next year, and many more Ballarat people playing tennis, cricket and soccer in the years to come.

Cr Daniel Moloney 

Mayor