Page 4511 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 20 November 1991
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In response to my inquiries, particularly of the New South Wales Bowling Association, I was told that the only site that has any sort of indoor facilities - I understand that there are some others, but I have not been able to verify that - is at the bowling club at Tweed Heads.
Mr Speaker, up there they have a bowling green with a synthetic surface covered by a roof. There is no requirement for the roof to be held up by anything that goes across the bowling green. The bowling green is completely open; there are no piers or pillars whatsoever. The proposal that we are talking about here is to have a car park underneath, forming the floor for the indoor bowling green, and then for the roof of the indoor bowling green to form the floor for the outdoor bowling green.
It is very interesting that at Tweed Heads they required some 640 cubic metres or 1,510 tonnes of concrete to construct that floor to very strict tolerances. What we are talking about here is the requirement to construct both of those. The committee was presented with a small diagram that is headed "Forrest Bowling Club Indoor Green Plan" which provides for seven greens. The area for the greens is 42.2 metres square, by the look of it, give or take half a metre or so, and they have a row of columns up the middle and some columns up the other end. I believe that engineers will tell us that there are some difficulties in providing that sort of facility to hold up that sort of concrete - not once, but twice. That is what is concerning us and the community in relation to the ability of this proposal to be put into place.
All we are doing here today, Mr Speaker, is proposing and approving carte blanche a proposal for a variation to this part of Forrest without, I would suggest, any real and proper assessment of the viability of that project. As far as the bowling club is concerned, we are really talking about only an extra 150 members, on their own figures, being encouraged to come into the organisation as a result of having this indoor green that they say is so much needed. Many are concerned that there will be problems associated with that part of the project which will result in some difficulties.
It would seem to me and others that the whole aim of this exercise is to put a large number of townhouses on a very interesting block of land, without giving any real consideration to the planning principles that should apply. On that basis, Mr Speaker, I believe, as do my colleagues, and I hope other members of this Assembly, that we should reject this proposal that is put before us, send it back to the drawing board, and say, "Nice try, but have another look at it", and see whether we can come up with a proposal that is more in keeping with the area and the requirements of the community.
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