Liberal party commits funding for Tarneit reserve

(Josiah Day/Unsplash)

The Goddard Street Reserve sporting fields will undergo a $700,000 upgrade, if the Liberal and National parties are successful at the state election in November.

The Liberal party said the commitment would fund the installation of flood lighting for the oval to allow for Wyndham Suns Football Netball Club to extend their gametime and training into the evenings.

Wyndham Suns Football Netball Club president Graeme Clarke welcomed the proposed funding and said the lights would have many benefits.

“When daylight savings finishes in April, it suddenly gets dark at five o’clock and not being able to supply a location for different teams to train, we don’t want to have them train over Christmas and not be able to train again,” he said.

“We want to try and develop female participation in sports, we have a pretty diverse community in the area and we need need to engage more with the community to make sure it’s a place that they want to come to,” he said.

Mr Clarke said he believed local sporting clubs were “100 per cent” neglected by all levels of government during election time.

“There’s a perception I suppose that you’re on the bottom of the list for anything,” he said.

“All the things most other clubs have got, when you ask for them they’re hard to get because the easy response is ‘you’re less than ten years old, the facilities are still new’.

Liberal candidate for Tarneit, Preet Singh, said the money would be an excellent commitment for the Tarneit community.

“Tarneit has grown rapidly and is expected to continue at this pace well into the future, these facilities are needed now and will service those future residents,” Mr Singh said.

“Our team will work with the community to provide better opportunities for players of all ages.”

The funding will also go towards the development of a new turf wicket, aimed at providing the Tarneit Central Cricket Club the opportunity to bring in more players and further training for national and international competitions.