Goya Dmytryshchak
Maribyrnong residents are calling on the Western Bulldogs to open Whitten Oval to the public for exercising and dog walking during the coronavirus lockdown.
Footscray resident Deb Bain-King said many people in the area had used the oval for walking, running and dog walking, and the community need now was greater than ever.
“It’s so important to so many people’s health and it is a community-owned asset,” she said.
“They’re really big on their community outreach and their place within the community; I think if we could work out something … that would really prove how their hearts are in the right place.”
Ms Bain-King has contacted the Bulldogs but was told in a written response the oval couldn’t be opened to the public “to protect the ovals and stands while there is no one at Whitten Oval due to the shutdown”.
Maribyrnong council’s planning services director Nigel Higgins said it at the Bulldogs’ discretion.
“The Whitten Oval is a well-loved space that the community have long enjoyed,” he said.
“Opening the oval to the public is at the discretion of the Western Bulldogs, who lease the site from the state government.”
He said other open spaces and dog off-lead areas in Maribyrnong remained open.
Western Bulldogs was contacted.
