Safety first for Inverloch kids, clubs and customers

SAFETY concerns at Inverloch Recreation Reserve will be addressed under an $880,000 Liberal and Nationals plan.

For years, the community has been doing battle with an unformed driveway and paths around the recreation reserve, creating a number of hazards for patrons, user groups and people using the parking area to access the CBD.

Shadow Minister for Sport, Cindy McLeish, said a Liberal and Nationals Government will ensure the funding is delivered for the project.

“This is a project that will improve the amenity of the recreation reserve for the whole Inverloch community,” Ms McLeish said.

President of the Inverloch Kongwak Football Netball Club, Peter Butcher, welcomed the announcement as a “fantastic outcome for the whole community” if it comes to fruition.

“In particular, the traffic at school pick-up time is phenomenal. I don’t know what the streets would be like outside the school if that wasn’t an option,” Mr Butcher said.

“It’s heavily used all day, by the traders and people going into the hub and the main street, but the problem is the amount of traffic really makes a mess of unsealed roads in the reserve, which is a real issue for us in the winter,” he said.

Mr Butcher said fixing up the roads and drainage in the reserve had been a pet project for Brett Tessari in particular, but he also welcomed the commitment by the Liberal Party as well.

Liberal Candidate for Bass, Aaron Brown said the project was a straightforward way to improve the reserve.

“The community has been putting up with a dangerous surface for quite some time,” Mr Brown said.

“Having a safe surface on the access driveways and pedestrian areas has been a big issue for the community – surfacing these will ensure it’s a safer area for everyone.”

The Nationals Candidate for Bass, Brett Tessari, said the project will be a game-changer.

“This will benefit so many community organisations as well as the Inverloch Primary School, you only have to be there to see parents and kids walking through slop to get to school,” Mr Tessari said.

“The overflow carpark is crucial to the town’s CBD and this announcement today is something that is going to make a difference to so many people.”

It’s such a standout need, right across the electorate of Bass, that it’s hoped the work will go ahead regardless of who wins government on November 26.