Williamstown residents are asking why Hobsons Bay council has not released findings from a community survey undertaken last year into what people would like to happen to the fenced-off part of a reserve in Melbourne Road.
Bonnie Gelman last year collected more than 180 signatures on a petition calling for the disused Williamstown women’s bowling green at Dennis Reserve to become public open space.
She suggested the results of the council’s community consultation might have been withheld because it did not produce the desired results.
“At this time, the many people who participated in the [council] survey for the site have not been given the results of the survey – which was undertaken in 2013 – or kept up to date with what is going in terms of the apparent tussle between the calls for commercial development, tennis courts and open space for the area.”
Ms Gelman said concerned residents had been stopping her in the street to ask her about the issue.
Williamstown Central Tennis Club is lobbying for the reserve to be used for two new courts.
Ms Gelman said that in mid-May, the council advised that its briefing papers were not public and it would announce its “preferred position” within six to eight weeks.
Hobsons Bay chief executive Chris Eddy said the council was working towards a solution that would optimise the reserve for a range of users.
“We recognise that the process is taking time,” he said. “Dennis Reserve is a complex issue and we are working to find a solution that meets our community’s needs.”
