Torquay Bowls Club asks its members for help with third green

THE Torquay Bowls Club has asked its members for their help in getting the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee (GORCC) to support the club’s plans for a third green.

In an open letter to members sent out last month, the club’s board of management wrote that having the third green included in the new master plan for Taylor Park was “our one and only chance as we approach our 100 years in the Park anniversary”.

The new green would take up half of the existing car park (on The Esplanade side), slightly pushing outside the club’s existing footprint, and new vehicular access would be created through Taylor Park.

The open letter notes “the expansion amounts to no more than 0.5 per cent (half of one per cent) of the total available parkland”.

GORCC’s Taylor Park Masterplan was last updated in 2000 and is due for review and renewal.

“As Torquay Bowls Club sits within Taylor Park, any aspirations we have for future expansion and development as both a Bowling Club and Community Hub, must be established now, within the new Master Plan,” the letter states.

“While there is no fixed timescale for creating a third green, the proposal must be part of the 2019 GORCC Master Plan. Demand for more bowls facilities has increased dramatically in the past five years, and so too, has the need for a friendly, welcoming social outlet.

“A third green would help meet the bowls demand and improve the facilities.”

The Torquay Bowls Club is asking its members to complete GORCC’s online survey about Taylor Park “and clearly support the extra land for TBC”.