Letter to the editor: Roll back on skate park plan surprises and disappoints

As the motion wasn’t even on the agenda for last week’s council meeting, and raised under the “information reports” section of the agenda, it caught other councillors and our community completely by surprise.

Without the community being given the opportunity to comment, this raises serious questions about the ethics of our newly elected council and how they intend to operate.

As president for the Braidwood Outsiders, we’ve advocated tirelessly to include a safe space for our young skaters in the heart of our community.

Our position is based on the advice of professionals in the industry and research on how to best develop these spaces, research over which we’ve pored for hundreds of hours.

We’ve had complete support from QPRC’s head of parks, Tim Geyer, council heritage advisor David Hobbs and heritage architects Phillips-Marler in putting together what has been widely received by most locals as an inclusive and well thought-out masterplan.

The results from the council’s own ‘Your Voice’ feedback portal reportedly show that the majority of the local community support the development, including the skate elements in Ryrie Park North.

Adding insult to injury, Mayor Tim Overall is now insisting the skate park should be located back down at the Rec Ground. I don’t need to remind everyone that this is the very location our community spent 12 months fighting against, and to which the former Palerang Council eventually conceded.

This decision makes a mockery of the past year’s worth of “community consultation” by QPRC and has been equally demoralising for the council staff who’ve worked so closely with the community to help achieve our aspirations.

After a brief honeymoon, the mayor and his ruling bloc are starting to show their true colours. It’s not the only dubious decision made by our new council, and diminishes our faith in the process of local government. Very disappointing.