FIELD OF DREAMS
A GIANT stretch of vacant land in Redlynch will begin to be transformed if the LNP wins the upcoming state election.
Opposition sports spokesman John-Paul Langbroek and Barron River candidate Linda Cooper visited former cane fields beside St Andrew’s Catholic College to launch the plan.
Mr Langbroek said the LNP would spend $2m to start work converting 54ha of land to fields for soccer, rugby league, rugby union, cricket and Australian rules football.
Ms Cooper helped secure the land and launch a masterplan in her previous position on Cairns Regional Council.
“But the land has actually been lacking in funding to get these sports fields to a stage where they can be played on,” she said.
Redlynch Razorbacks president Travis Hastie said the club was desperate for space.
“(Our vision is) having kids able to use the facilities, more room for training, and then on game days we can play games and have room for parking, we can play bigger carnivals, we can spread ourselves right across the field,” he said.
The masterplan includes three rectangular fields, two AFL fields and other “passive recreational space”, but $2m will not cover the full cost.
“The immediate need is to get those rectangular fields, particularly, and the AFL fields up and running. That’s what the money will go towards,” Ms Cooper said.
The fields will be available to St Andrew’s Catholic College during school hours.
“When I first started in council, we had a tripartite agreement with … the state government and Cairns Regional Council and the Catholic diocese,” Ms Cooper said.
Barron River MP Craig Crawford suggested $2m was nowhere near enough to achieve the stated goal.
“The cost of construction for an oval is quite expensive because it’s not just the grass and dirt — it’s drainage, irrigation, lighting, change rooms, access roads, parking and fencing,” he said.