The club had submitted the permit  application to Golden Plains Shire council to use a parcel of land in Lacey’s Road for regular four-wheel-drive events.

Smythesdale Football Netball Club president Nick Gray said the mud runs would have acted as fundraisers for the club as well as community organisations including schools, fire brigades and lion’s clubs.

He said it was a shame residents did not support the idea of hosting an event that would benefit the community.

“What we are trying to do is bring in all the community and raise enough money for the football netball club as well as nominated charities,” Mr Gray said.

“We’ve been fighting to get something like this to happen for three years and because we had so many rejections in Ross Creek, we decided to pull out. We didn’t want to upset the people.”

According to Mr Gray, the mud racing event would be held up to four times a year and would see road-registered and modified four-wheel-drives race around a course with each race lasting between 55 and 70 seconds.

Mr Gray said the football netball club was still on the lookout for appropriate blocks of land around Ballarat.

“We had two or three venues in places we thought were suitable and we have tried to keep it away from homes,” he said.

“There’s a little bit of noise involved but it’s no worse than a chainsaw running.

“We’re back to square one now. We have to look for more options.”

A concerned Ross Creek resident wrote in a letter to The Courier that there would’ve been an uproar in the community had the planning permit been approved.

“The people of this community have made their home, their castle, their lifestyle in this area ... to bring their children up in a country environment and to have their own piece of tranquillity.

“The president of the football club does not live anywhere near this parcel of land (and) he would not receive any impact of noise pollution or invasion of privacy.”

dellaram.vreeland@fairfaxmedia.com.au