Cash for Brisbane club

Mayor, deputy ask why council handed $27k to out-of-towners

MAYOR Paul Antonio is among councillors demanding answers on why the Toowoomba Regional Council gave $27,000 in grants to a Brisbane dirt bike club.

TRC officers revealed the Brisbane North Dirt Bike Club had won another $7000 in the latest round of the Sport and Recreation grant program to help them develop a new dirt bike course in Mt Binga, 100km north of Toowoomba, just within the region’s bounds.

This was on top of the $20,000 they received in the first round.

Cr Antonio and Deputy Mayor Carol Taylor asked for more information on the issue, which arose during committee meetings yesterday.

“(This) is obviously being used by an external party. Could I have a justification for that please?” Cr Antonio asked.

Officer Darryl Bates said it would be used to pay for fees associated with designing the facility, after the club “underestimated the costs” of the development process.

“I think they found the DA costs were significantly higher than they expected and so we’ve helped them with additional funding to get past the planning stage,” he said.

“There’s an expectation there will be quite a number of riders from Toowoomba who will use those facilities.”

But Cr Taylor baulked at the decision, saying the club should’ve been able to prove how many riders would come from Toowoomba.

“We shouldn’t be subsidising planning fees for a bike club coming out from Brisbane because the fees ended up being more than what they expected,” she said.

“This is $27,000 we’ve given to this club, so I’m not supportive of this without that information (about rider locations).”

The TRC allocated $247,000 to 57 groups in the latest round of funding, but also knocked back 19 projects due to ineligibility or an oversubscription in a particular program.