Council has engaged with the lawn bowlers to understand their needs and expectations and will seek to finalise a suitable agreement with them to continue bowling activities until the future use of the site is finalised. The bowling green adjacent to Darvall Park is under a licence agreement and is available for use by the licensee, Carlingford Sports Club.

The site was previously used for bowling activities, and the building was managed by a registered club and included licenced facilities, poker machines and a restaurant. The previous owner of the site indicated that the operations on the site were not financially sustainable and decided to dispose of the asset

The site is partly zoned for RE1 Public Recreation (northern bowling green) and the remainder of the site is zoned RE2 Private Recreation. This allows the following uses: Community facilities; Environmental facilities; Kiosks; Recreation areas; Recreation facilities (indoor); Recreation facilities (outdoor); Restaurants or cafes; Roads; Registered clubs (not in RE1 area); and Recycling facilities.

Using the site for a community facility exclusively is not preferred as Council’s adopted Halls and Facilities Strategy recommends moving away from satellite stand-alone style locations. Any proposed future use of the site may be subject to development consent approval, with this constraint made clear through the future expression of interest process.

• Council doesn’t currently have allocated funding to directly manage the facility.
• The building requires significant improvement works undertaken on it to bring it up to a suitable standard.
• Council will seek expressions of interests for a third-party to manage the property on its behalf. This provides the best opportunity for the facility to be renewed and revitalised so that it meets the community need.

The external grounds and car parking area that forms part of the property requires significant ongoing funding to maintain it to an acceptable standard, regardless of the use made of the site.

Through the process to identify an external operator to manage the site on behalf of Council, proposals may be received to embellish the site. Any works undertaken on the site would need to obtain the relevant planning approvals if required.

Following the completion of the public consultation on the future use of the site, staff will prepare a report for Council outlining the feedback received and for a preferred option for future use to be determined.

Once the preferred option is determined, a Public Tender process will be undertaken to seek expressions if interest for managing the site in line with the determined future use.

It is expected that this process will take up to 2 years from commencement to having an operator on site, hence Council is seeking to formalise an agreement with the previous lawn bowlers to allow for continued use through this period.