Local NSW MP Tamara Smith (Greens) says she is working with the Ballina Croquet Club and advocating Ballina Council on their behalf for the last decade, ‘seeking use of a small parcel of Council land for the club to have their own facilities and a space and identity that is separate from a liquor and gaming premises’.
The Echo previously reported that club members say they are being evicted from the Ballina Bowling and Recreation Club (BB&C).
The BB&C, located on Cherry Street, have said in a statement that ‘a new unified operating structure’ for croquet in Ballina has been implemented.
Ms Smith told The Echo, ‘Successive Ballina mayors and elected representatives have failed to support the club to use Council land, despite multiple opportunities with the upgrade of sporting precincts in the Shire, and despite ongoing and repeated requests by the club and my office.’
‘Ballina Croquet Club is nearly 100 years old and its members deserve to keep their unique identity with their own space and croquet facilities, and that is what they have been struggling to retain in the face of gaslighting and misinformation.
‘Working with the club, I have written to the Minister for Crown Lands and identified a suitable site where the club could build their own facilities and where we can all rally behind them. This would be the win-win and it is what the club have been asking for over and over.’
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