Up in the air: Lighting restrictions at City Oval have been blamed for the loss of the Nitro Circus event.
THE Redan Football Netball Club has called for City Oval lighting restrictions to be lifted.
Club president Darryl Blomeley said yesterday Ballarat City Council should approach the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to alter the oval’s training light curfew.
VCAT ruled in 2005 that the lights can only be used between 5pm and 8pm weekdays between March and September.
“(Lifting the curfew) is probably no real advantage to the club itself,” Mr Blomeley said.
“We manage with it because we only train Tuesday and Thursday nights.
“But this is a ridiculous situation where you’ve got a minority of people overruling the majority.”
Mr Blomeley said Redan had already been fined $1000 when the lights were accidentally turned on after motorbike act the Crusty Demons performed on the City Oval in 2006.
“They were packing up and asked one of our members to turn the lights on for safety reasons and he didn’t realise the restriction applied.”
However, he said the club couldn’t afford to go back to VCAT as it had already cost expensive legal fees to win the limited lighting use.
Mr Blomeley said Ballarat needed another big stadium but was concerned that funds to smaller football clubs would be cut as a result.
“Ballarat needs something but the City Oval is probably the best precinct in Ballarat if the ground is upgraded and the lighting issue reviewed.
“Our new netball courts have made it a real sports precinct.”
But he said he was disappointed that he heard about the Nitro Circus Live tour via The Courier.
“We own the lights, we get no money from the council for those, and we had no approach about this at all.
“The surface of the ground is also not suitable to take the punishment it gets from these shows.
“We’re the major tenant and we need it for footy season. They need to upgrade the ground first.”
Mayor Mark Harris said Ballarat lacked the infrastructure for this type of event.
“Trying to change arrangements at City Oval is something we can consider, and we would undertake the necessary community engagement if we took that step,” Cr Harris said.
“The ideal space for an event of this type would be the Major Events Precinct and the ability to attract events of this sort is one reason we have made this a priority project of council.”
fiona.henderson@thecourier.com.au