Funds to fix Stribling Reserve pavilion seat shortage

THE new pavilion at Stribling Reserve is short on furniture, and the Surf Coast Shire will use up to $50,000 to rectify this and use the space to its full potential.

Councillors resolved to accept the officers’ recommendation to spend the funds for the benefit of the Stribling Reserve Community Asset Committee at their meeting on Tuesday this week.

The $6.635 million redevelopment project officially opened in April of this year and is now managed by the committee.

As the report to councillors notes, the committee “led a significant fundraising campaign, raising in excess of $600,000 toward the project but have exhausted all local fundraising networks”.

The new community pavilion at Stribling Reserve is double the size of the previous one and it is the committee’s responsibility to furnish it, but “the old furniture (is) tired including square tables which do not allow for an efficient use of space”, the report stated.

Several user groups of the pavilion are expected to benefit from more furniture, including Lorne P-12 College (which uses the pavilion daily during school hours), Lorne Football and Netball Club, the newly re-established Lorne Cricket Club and a range of casual facility hiring groups.

The estimated cost of securing the required furniture to seat 200 people is up to $50,000, and officers recommended the shire purchase the furniture upfront and transfer the full and final allocation amount from the committee to the shire’s accumulated unallocated cash reserve within two years.

Lorne Ward councillor Gary Allen said a better-used pavilion could fill a local gap in the market.

“The recently opened Stribling Reserve pavilion in Lorne is a magnificent council facility that is ideally positioned to fill an unexpected reduction in the number of facilities in Lorne capable of hosting large functions, including weddings, conferences and special community events.

“Over the past two years, three major conference and function facilities in Lorne have ceased to provide these opportunities.

“This is an unexpected market opportunity for Stribling Reserve to help fill this gap in Lorne, and at the same time, help secure the sustainable operation of the reserve.”

He said the existing furniture was “perfectly adequate” for use by Lorne P-12 College and small community events, but “furniture fit for purpose” was needed to market and use the pavilion at its 200-seat capacity.

The committee had undertaken a “mammoth task” over four years to raise more than $600,000 for the capital works, Cr Allen said, but “it would find it very difficult to go back to the community and ask for more, as it is, by regulation, unable to borrow money.”