Elliott is confident on Lark Hill

Councillor Chris Elliott says he remains confident about the prospect of Lark Hill Stage 2 being brought forward on the City of Rockingham’s business plan after the council agreed to revisit the viability of the project.

Cr Elliott, who has been advocating for more open space in the coastal ward, said the council resolved a number of important things at last month’s meeting.

“The first one was to ignore the previous planning for Lark Hill Stage 2 which was to have development on a regional standard reserve,” he said.

Cr Elliott believed a revised model of Stage 2 would be cheaper and focus more on the sporting needs of the local community.

He said a holistic approach to public open space, including revisiting proposed developments of Laurie Stanford Reserve in Singleton and Rhonda Scarrott Oval in Golden Bay, would hopefully mean a positive outcome for sporting clubs in the region.

A report will be presented to the council in August and detail community consultation and include environmental, financial and social aspects of the project.

“In the event the council does accept that report, within a month the community infrastructure plan and the developer’s contribution scheme will be amended to have Lark Hill brought forward to give Lark Hill a higher priority and built in this business plan,” Cr Elliott said.

The former city mayor said it was pleasing the council was prepared to take community feedback on board and be seen to be addressing important issues.

“What it shows to me, and I think to everyone looking at it, is the council is prepared to be responsive to community needs and do the best it can to meet them,” he said. “In doing so these decisions cannot be made lightly.

“All the homework needs to be done.”