Sharon Cadwallader presented a mayoral minute at the last meeting of Ballina Shire Council to fast-track improvements to Walsh Park, East Wardell, following the devastating floods of 2022 and division in the local community since.
The mayor said the Wardell community had been through an ‘incredibly difficult period’. Although there a number of new improvements on the way for the village, she said that with the loss of the main sporting field there was a need in the shorter term to do something ‘very simple and easy’, so kids had somewhere to kick a ball around and families had access to open space.
Mayor Cadwallader suggested some basic improvements to Walsh Park, on the southern side of the river, with a new sign, some mowing and maybe a couple of goal posts to be added.
While there wasn’t enough money to do much more, she asked ‘can we just get something happening down there to give the community a bit of open space for the kids? Let’s try and bring the community together and get some better conciliation happening.’
Which park again?
In response to other councillors’ confusion about where the park was exactly, and whether Ballina Council had responsibility for it, staff member Matt Wood clarified that the land in question was a triangular piece of former farmland between the highway and river, just beyond the bridge, travelling south from Wardell.
‘It’s an undeveloped piece of council land,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t function in our network at present as a park… it’s a piece of communal land that’s managed in a minimal fashion at this point in time.’
Cr Eva Ramsey supported the mayor’s motion, saying ‘If we’d looked at Walsh Park before, we probably could’ve calmed the waters in Wardell.’ She said there was potential on the large site for sporting facilities or a garden. ‘It’s completely embarrassing that a little town like that can have so much friction, whereas we could calm a lot if we’d have done that in the first place.’
Mayor Cadwallader said that if the park was ‘on the books’ then it could be incorporated into future master plans for more serious development, when funding became available.
After more discussion, Matt Wood said it would take months to bring about even ‘very modest’ improvements to the site, depending on community expectations, budgetary and staff pressures.
Cr Rod Bruem said in spite of that, he thought Mayor Cadwallader’s suggestion sounded like ‘a very sensible solution to the problem in Wardell, with the lack of open space for people to recreate in’. He said a start could be made even without a master plan in place. Cr Bruem noted that the renewed focus on Walsh Park had emerged after a recent meeting of the Wardell Progress Association.
Too vague?
Cr Jeff Johnson said he supported the intent of providing embellishments to the park, but what was proposed seemed ‘very vague’, and it was a big call to suggest that some work on the park could improve the social fabric of the community in Wardell.
He suggested the detail needed to be discussed with the community and council.
Mayor Cadwallader said ‘I just wanted to make it a safe space and a piece of dirt that people can use.’
GM Paul Hickey agreed, saying anything that could be done to improve things in Wardell would help to rebuild the social fabric. ‘So it’s just about doing some minimal works, without that full consultation at this stage,’ he said.
Wardell-based Cr Nigel Buchanan said that before the flood, Wardell was well served by sporting and other facilities, and his community had been further fragmented by the lack of places to meet since.
He thanked councillors for attending the recent community meeting, where all sides were represented, and said events that brought the fractured community together ‘to communicate and socialise were the biggest single thing we can do for the healing of Wardell after the flood.’
Do something
Cr Simon Chate said Cr Buchanan was spot-on. ‘Having attended the meeting, it was a very clear moment when Madam Mayor suggested maybe we could do something with Walsh Park. There was applause all around.
‘The people that were asking for community gardens spoke, and that was accepted, and the desire for putting some goalposts in, or something for the kids to run around on, that was all embraced. It was actually a really lovely moment. And I would like to echo Councillor Buchanan’s suggestion that this would be really good.’
Cr Chate said he agreed with the mayor’s thinking that it was not the time to be asking for full community consultation towards a master plan for the park. ‘This is an opportunity to get something happening,’ he said. ‘It was called for by the community clearly on the night and I think it’s a good thing. So I’m going to support this.
Cr Meehan said he was worried about supporting something without proper detail about what was going to happen or the exact cost. ‘I’m not willing to go there,’ he said, adding that the current delivery and operational plan had recently been approved and it was inappropriate to be discussing variations already, with council staff so over-worked.
He then discussed the idea of establishing a community garden in Wardell, possibly on the Walsh Park site. Cr Johnson reminded councillors of the long process associated with establishing the community gardens in Ballina and Lennox Head.
Regarding other possible improvements at Walsh Park, he reminded councillors that even small improvements to playground equipment at Cumbalum had taken years to organise, because of funding shortages. ‘This seems like a very grand idea that hasn’t actually been thought out,’ he said. ‘I can’t see how having a grassy area near the road will rebuild the social fabric of the Wardell community.’
Consultation
After more argy-bargy, Cr Kiri Dicker said consultation was the key. ‘I can’t ever think of a time where consultation with the community led to a worse outcome,’ she said. ‘It’s just a principle. I think it’s good planning…
‘I don’t even know what we’re actually talking about. There’s talk of a community garden, there’s talk of putting up goalposts or pulling down goalposts. I don’t know if one thing might preclude another thing, or certain groups in the community might have preferences,’ she said. ‘I feel like if we don’t do consultation, it will come back to bite us.’
After more circular debate, Cr Bruem said, ‘Do we really need to be debating this? All we’re going to do is slash a paddock and remove divots. Do we need a community consultation for that?’
Cr Chate responded, ‘I am all for community consultation. I think it’s really important. But having been in that room, there was community consultation happening right there. And the two ideas that came out of that were community gardens, and maybe some goalposts for the kids. That was unanimously supported in the room.’
Cr Meehan pointed out that the land in question had houses nearby, without car parking arrangements for people using the proposed sporting facilities. He worried about legal responsibilities Ballina Council might have to neighbouring landowners.
Matt Wood said the triangular park land was zoned as open space, but agreed parking and access issues would have to be clarified down the track if further works were planned for the site, beyond the minimal upgrades being discussed.
Mayor Cadwallader said, ‘I just need to reiterate – this is no grandiose plan… It’s not about spending a lot of money. It’s not about doing anything else, just making it usable space. Because we know we don’t have the resources.’
Ultimately, the mayor’s motion passed unanimously, with words added by Cr Meehan to the effect that a community garden be considered among other possible embellishments to Walsh Park.
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It is interesting to read that there isn’t much money available to improve this park in Wardell. The off leash dog park in Alstonville is being down graded (although being sold as an upgrade). This project is partly being funded by a flood recovery grant of $175000. Given that the plateau was the least flood affected part of the shire it seems wrong that the money is being spent here (which is a project that nobody wants) instead of Wardell where it might have been put to good use.