Roxby Downs Council Office was questioned by the media regarding the demolition of a BMX track in town and has responded saying it was earmarked as far back as two years ago and during last year's EIS consultation.
According to the Council since then the matter has not been an issue before February this year and again last week when a story about the loss of the facility was raised in the media.
In 2007 the town centre portion of Council's Development Plan was revamped by the State Government with the land of the corner of Olympic Way and Burgoyne Street rezoned from a Community Zone to Town Centre Business Policy Area as preparation for a potential expansion of the town.
The BHP Billiton's Draft Olympic Dam EIS identified the BMX track as the site for Court Offices and Police Station. Both these actions involved extensive public consultation.
The State Government has since taken control of a portion of this area and commenced construction of a new Police Station, a use that will greatly benefit the wider community.
As a result of that, the former BMX track had to make way for the town's expansion.
"This facility was initially constructed in 2000 for the then perceived need. However, over time there has been very limited use either informally or in any organised way," said Roxby Council Administrator, Bill Boehm.
But now it appears some residents are unhappy with the track's demolition, despite it having very limited use for a number of years.
"Council is here to promote sport and activities for the community but we always have to evaluate the cost compared to the use for the wider group of people. It is difficult to justify spending public money on things that cannot be demonstrated to be used and in this instance use on the previous BMX track was minimal." explains Municipal Works Officer from Roxby Downs Council, Peter Keller.
"Someone has to meet construction and maintenance costs and we are on budget pressure to ensure that scarce funds are spent wisely for the community as a whole. In some instances, especially in a transient town with high turnover not every group's requirements can be justified. Investment to service few families this year may be redundant next year when they leave town, but the community will still be paying for ongoing maintenance" Mr Keller told The Monitor.
According to the Roxby Council, people have had a long time to come forward and raise the issue about having a BMX track somewhere else, since from the BHP's EIS consultation that spot was identified to have a court house and a Police Station instead.
"If there were so many people using the BMX track and interested in having another one why didn't they come forward and raised that when the EIS was brought up?," asked Mr Keller.
Council claims that in April last year the new Police Station concept, including its location, was on display for public consultation, so people had the time and chance to bring this matter to the town's administration.
"Council has not been approached until the end of February this year about this issue, which means that when we were approached, the demolition had already happened.
"We encourage people to bring their concerns and issues to the Council, so they can be addressed but people need to understand that not every demand can be attended as we have to consider the cost benefit in everything we do", said Mr Keller.
"Council has identified that in the future a similar BMX facility may be required at a different location in keeping with an expanded town and there are a number of potential areas that could be developed," Mr Boehm added.
"Council is pleased to explore potential opportunities provided that an organisation can demonstrate that it is or can be sustainable," he concluded.
