A municipal golf course in Australia’s largest city is facing the grim reaper, and one government official insists there’s no coming back from the grave.
Carnarvon Golf Course, part of the sprawling metropolis of Sydney, is being considered for a conversion to a cemetery, since the city’s lots are nearly full and the Metropolitan Memorial Parks, which runs government-owned cemeteries, has earmarked the course as its preferred site. Another municipally-run cemetery sits nearby.
A local politician, however, has called the move “lazy and short-sighted,” and insisted that a presentation to residents on Tuesday is a formality.
In a story at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Auburn member of parliament Lynda Voltz said the move has already been determined.
“Despite how many times they’ve denied they’ve made a decision, they made [it] a long time ago,” she told the station. “No other site is being looked at.”
Here’s more from the ABC story:
The Carnarvon Golf Club has a lease on the site until 2035.
Lands Minister Steve Kamper has said the lease cannot be terminated without “mutual agreement”.
However, the club’s general manager, Adam McGregor, said the messaging from MMP had worried his members.
“Uncertainty is the word of the day,” McGregor said. “We were told by Minister Kamper that we were safe until 2035.
“[But] I guess I’m concerned with only one option being offered for cemetery space, and there seems to be the line from the cemetery people that they’ll run out of space in the next 12 months.”
He said if the consultation was genuine, an alternative option would have been presented to the community.
“What’s the point of consulting on one piece of land?”
Kamper said he welcomed MMP putting its proposal out for community consultation.
“We got into this mess because successive governments put this in the too hard basket, now we are at a point where we can’t afford not to act.”
The course has 800 members and thousands of non-members who consistently play it. The 18-hole course was designed by Arthur East and opened for play in 1949.
“They think they can take this land for nothing and they don’t have to pay for it,” Voltz said. “[But] it comes at a huge cost to the community.”
🏌️♂️⛳️🏌️♀️ 😍 USE the BET9JA Promotion Code YOHAIG for a ₦100,000 Bonus!
