Decision on use of Caulfield Racecourse Reserve likely to rule out racehorse training
- Andrea Kellett
- March 18, 2013 2:17PM
Cr Jim Magee is hoping there will be support for the statement on the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve. Picture: Jason Sammon Leader
GLEN Eira councillors will tomorrow night be asked to adopt an explosive position statement on Crown land at Caulfield Racecourse Reserve.
The nine-point statement will push for massive change, including phasing out all racehorse training.
It comes just a week before the reserve’s governing body the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust is due to meet.
The State Government has appointed three new Glen Eira councillors to the trust. Mayor Jamie Hyams, Cr Michael Lipshutz and Cr Margaret Esakoff’s appointments were gazetted last Wednesday. Former trustee chairman Cr Jim Magee was not reappointed.
Cr Magee will call on all councillors to support the statement.
“It’s one of the most significant statements council has ever made regarding the racecourse,” he said.
If the statement is adopted, the council will be committed to advocate for:
- Equal land for community sport and racetracks
- Leases or licences put in place for each of the reserve’s three main uses
- Horse training to be phased out
- Public use to take precedence over car parking
- Commercial rent charged for all commercial activities
- Governance by committee of management
View the full statement at gleneira.vic.gov.au.
Read next week’s Caulfield Glen Eira Leader for the council’s decision and the community’s reaction or email andrea.kellett@news.com.au with your thoughts.
Glen Eira Debates 
March 18, 2013 at 4:47 PM
What a fool Magee is. Hundreds of our Constituents are employed by the training industry at the Racecourse. What does that fool propose to do with all these jobs. Quit Magee because you are braindead.
March 18, 2013 at 7:25 PM
For the visually impaired, the report and Recommendation appear under Andrew Newton’s name in the Agenda, not Cr Magee’s.
As for the lazy rhetoric above concerning profit-making enterprises operating rent-free on Crown land, one might as well ask what happened to the jobs at Epsom when it closed (subsequently converted into a housing estate). Or at all the other closed metropolitan racecourses (partial list): Ascot, Aspendale Park, Camberwell, Fitzroy (Croxton), Mentone, Mordialloc, Richmond, Sandown Park, Williamstown. There are 42 operating racecourses in Victoria to service, as the MRC has acknowledged, a dwindling market.
Now debate what the future for the Caulfield racecourse precinct should be, what the management regime should look like, what conditions should be attached to the various uses, what fees and charges should be attached to those uses and how that money should be disbursed, what other uses the land could be put to if not compromised by horse training, and whether horse training is an appropriate land use in inner metropolitan Melbourne.
March 18, 2013 at 5:14 PM
If only the headline was close to the truth there might be some joy for locals. Naphnine, Southwick, Newton, Esakoff, Hyams and Pilling do not give a stuff about training. If they did then this would have been the first plank of any vision statement. I would even wager that Magee’s last letters to the Premier and Auditor General are lying on someone’s in tray and been left to rot there. It would be novel if the Leader for once got the real slant on a story instead of forever making Newton and his stooges sound like revolutioinaries.
March 18, 2013 at 8:22 PM
Congratulations to Cr Magee for trying to be consistent and do the right thing by residents and the Council. We need more councillors like that. Wonder how Cr Pilling and Cr Sounness will react?
March 18, 2013 at 10:04 PM
Another flashback in history. Readers may remember the 2008 Select Committee Hearing on Public Lands. Here is part of their recommendations – NOT ONE OF WHICH HAS BEEN ACTED UPON BY EITHER SIDE OF POLITICS!
RECOMMENDATION 5.8
That the Government investigate:
•
the history, membership structure, responsibilities and current
arrangement of the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Board of Trustees,
particularly in relation to its duty to uphold not just horse racing, but
all the purposes of the reserve in the original Grant;
•
the purpose to which money raised by horse racing has been used;
and
•
ways in which the Government can ensure that the Board of Trustees
operates in an open and transparent manner and in accordance with
the terms of the Grant.
RECOMMENDATION 5.9
That the Master Plan for the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve redevelopment
be the subject of wide public consultation incorporating the municipalities
of Glen Eira, Stonnington, and Port Phillip.
RECOMMENDATION 5.10
That the Minister for Planning strongly consider appointing community
members and/or people with park and recreation expertise as nominees of
the State Government to the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Board of
Trustees to provide a balanced representation of interests and expertise.
RECOMMENDATION 5.11
That the day-to-day management of the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve, by
delegation from the Trustees to the Melbourne Racing Club, be
reconsidered.
Source: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/documents/council/Select_Committees/PublicLand/Final_Report_for_Printing.pdf
March 18, 2013 at 10:13 PM
Some interesting suggestions put forward by Councillor Magee. What a pity he allowed the submission to be undermined by the proposal to phase out horse training at Caulfield. There’s no chance of that happening . The club derives too much income from fees and rent. Not to mention the long history of training at the venue.
Plus, I don’t see it as a major issue.The training is done and dusted by between 8 and 9am.
March 18, 2013 at 10:31 PM
Name me one other park where access is restricted to certain hours. Name me any other park that’s crown land and a bogus non profit organisation makes heaps out of it without a cent going back to tax payers. If you got rid of training then you wouldn’t have the miles and miles of additional fencing that has now gone up. It’s not a park or a recreation ground the way it looks. It’s a maze of white fences and tiny little higgledy piggledy plots of allegedly public space all over the place.
They’ve got rid of training from other places so they can get rid of it from here to.
March 19, 2013 at 8:13 AM
The MCG comes to mind. It is on Crown land and the public cannot get in unless you pay. To become a member you have to wait 20 years. There are leases taken out by yacht clubs that preclude the public from areas of the foreshore. There are plenty of examples of crown land being used for club members. I would admit the gambling revenue does put the MRC ahead financially. In the case of the MCG they get government help.
March 19, 2013 at 10:44 AM
MCG isn’t designated as half a public park.
March 19, 2013 at 5:03 PM
Flemington racecourse is on Crown Land. You have just as much chance of removing training facilities form there as you do at Caulfield. Won’t happen.
March 19, 2013 at 7:37 PM
Neither is Caulfield Race Track. It is a race track and will always be a race track. When it is open to the public there will only be a handful of you whingers going down there to console each other.
March 18, 2013 at 10:45 PM
Anyone that thinks that training will stop at Caulfield is a fool. It is one of the biggest employers in Glen Eira. Magee is not representing the majority of people in the city. Next he will want to stop the Caulfield Cup.
March 19, 2013 at 12:32 PM
‘anon’, no one suggested that Caulfield Cup or racing is moved from Caulfield racecourse. On the contrary there may be more racing days and community activities if training is removed. Also, country racecourses as in Ballarat from which MCG hails from or Warrnambool which Nephtine hails from would be happy to have State wide training facilities. But I must say there are entrenched interest that do not want that (eg Alinta Racing) and make it difficult and expensive to shift training from Caulfield. A failure of racing financial position will do the trick. It may still happen if MRC has to subsidise racing or worse still if the State will have to do it. The installation of the new track facility indicates that MRC expects the training to persist for a very long time. Residents do not count. What’s new!
March 18, 2013 at 11:15 PM
A resident has sent us the link to the following Media Release by the MRC.
“Australia’s First Polytrack Opens At Caulfield
Friday, 8 February 2013: Caulfield-based trainers now have access to Australia’s first Polytrack after the Melbourne Racing Club announced the opening of its new $2.8 million training surface today.
A synthetic surface containing particles each molecularly bonded within a wax coating, the track affords trainers at Caulfield the ability to work horses on a climate-tolerant surface that mimics turf, courtesy of its unique root structure and vertical drainage system.
Melbourne Racing Club (MRC) Chairman, Mike Symons, lauded the new facility as an example of the Club’s aspiration to industry-leading practices and a commitment to its Caulfield home.
“The MRC is committed to continuing to provide the best training facilities for our trainers based at Caulfield and Mornington,” Mr Symons said.
“A thorough, global exploration of obtaining the right surface was led by (MRC General Manager of Racecourses) Jason Kerr, upon which the Polytrack was the obvious solution.
“Polytrack differs greatly from the synthetic tracks previously laid in Australia through its composition and drainage system, making it the first actual climate-tolerant, turf-mimicking surface.
“Accordingly, we’re thrilled to be able to provide a home the first of its kind in the country.”
Martin Collins, inventor and supplier of Polytrack® said, “We are delighted to be working with the Melbourne Racing Club at Caulfield in the latest development of their fabulous training facilities.
“Although this is the first Polytrack to be installed in Australia, we have over 30 years’ experience in the synthetic surface industry and have used every bit of this experience in producing a suitable training surface which is consistent, safe and sympathetic to the working racehorse.
“We look forward to a long working relationship with the team at Caulfield as part of our ongoing commitment to the Australian racing industry.”
The Caulfield Polytrack installation
· 17,000m2 of track – the equivalent of 65 tennis courts – has been refurbished;
· 4100 tonnes of New Generation Polytrack has been manufactured on site;
· Some components of the track travelled over 9150 nautical miles, or 17,000km, for the refurbishment;
· It took all of ten days for the surface to be moved by two trucks from the Caulfield Racecourse Guineas Car Park to the track;
· The surface will be maintained using a specially designed machine called the Gallop Master.”
Source: http://www.racingandsports.com.au/racing/rsnewsart.asp?NID=270505&story=Australia%27s_First_Polytrack_Opens_At_Caulfield
We highlight this, and ask readers to compare the above and what the MRC stated in their submission to VEAC. Obviously their word is not their bond!
From page 8 –
““The prospect for horse training at Caulfield is that it will continue for the medium term and thereafter with full consultation with the whole of the Racing Industry and the Caulfield Trainers, a decision is expected to be made to relocate training to a more suitable locality away from the metropolitan area.
b.
The MRC and Council support any Industry initiative to relocate training from the Caulfield Racecourse and desire this to happen as expediently as can be facilitated by the Industry.
The MRC will provide Council with an annual update on progress.”
Source: http://www.veac.vic.gov.au/submissions/published/Melbourne_Racing_Club.pdf
March 19, 2013 at 10:42 AM
so well played by the MRC. They will argue they have spent so much on this track there is no way they are moving. Was this the final straw for the council who have been made to look stupid over the moving of training in principle agreement. The 2 or 3 ovals here is the only solution to the lack of sporting grounds in GE.
March 19, 2013 at 11:31 AM
It suddenly dawned on me the political significance of this Leader article getting published. It means powerbrokers at White Hall support it. Far cry from another article by Andrea about the degraded state of the centre of the racecourse that was pulled.
March 19, 2013 at 1:03 PM
This is plausible, but how do you know that? Where is the evidence of that?
March 19, 2013 at 2:41 PM
Do we really want to see the what’s left of the racecourse developed into another sporting park, Everywhere you turn and look it’s development, development and more development, what about some quiet peaceful places free clutter and interference. God help us if Newton and his bureaucrats get there hand on this area, they will turn it into a mess, just as they done to most of our other parks
March 21, 2013 at 2:30 PM
The whole area could be equated to an apple and guess what it is lucky if the area left for the public can be found among the multiple tracks, concrete and mkany kilometres of fences! Starrt calloing the area “THE PIP” rather than the phrase coined by GEC and MRC.