12:00a.m. 4th July 2008

| By Jane Gardner

Council has not provided a single cent for the proposed multi-million dollar Kawana Stockland Park upgrade in their first budget, instead investing millions in to various sporting fields and centres across the Sunshine Coast.

Mr Abbot said leaving Stockland Park off the budget list was a “fair decision” and he would not rush council into committing anything to the project, despite pressure from the community.

“I think Stockland Park is an issue that will need some long term looking at,” he said.

“It’s a massive investment there were some arrangements made with the previous Caloundra Council, they left us with the decision to make.

“It needs a good, close, look and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re making no predictions on that just yet. It’s an $8 million investment on behalf of this community and it’s not an investment I’m going to make cheaply, given those other policies we were elected for are suffering.

“I think it’s fair that we’ve taken our time we make sure we get it right.

“Council is serious about sport and recreation on the Sunshine Coast, we want to find the best way we can achieve that and this proposal to a great degree needs work.”

Similarly, Chris Thompson said: “I want to see how much the external contribution is going to be. Who pays, how much they will pay and when, because at this stage we still haven’t seen any external funding for that project.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re well aware of what we’re committing the Sunshine Coast ratepayers to.”

Stockland Park board chairman Tony Long gave a strict “no comment” to all media enquiries yesterday pending a presentation to council staff on Monday.

Other sporting facilities to win budget money included: $2.09 million for the Meridan Fields, $780,000 for the Beerwah Sports Ground $285,000 for Skippy Park in Landsborough, $110,000 for the Caloundra Aquatic Centre and $130,000 for the Kawana Aquatic Centre.

Council will spend $150,000 on the master plan of a sportsground at Witta in Councillor Jenny McKay’s division.

Councillor Ted Hungerford was more than happy with $765,000 allocated to upgrade the Maroochydore multi-sports complex.

“I got more out of this budget than I did out of the four years in the previous council,” he said.

“The Maroochydore multi-sports complex is badly needing an upgrade.

“We need lights there for the soccer, a new oval is being built, and we have also managed to get money to purchase land next to Martin’s Creek soccer oval so they can expand in the future.”