OUR SAY: Council should have presented grandstand demolition plan to public meeting due to its significance

The 1926 grandstand will remain after an application by Racing Victoria to demolish it was refused on heritage grounds.

The decision was made by officers, rather than council, after fewer than five objections were received.

News of the order came from the Royal Historical Society of Victoria which posted on Facebook on Monday that council had given notification of its rejection.

The council then confirmed to The Border Mail that its staff had ruled, against demolishing, on November 30.

This followed the original application being advertised for public comment in this masthead in September.

Regardless of the rule in relation to number of objections, it would have been preferable to have the issue go to a meeting of councillors for open debate.

This is the type of issue where there is a clear community interest, given the grandstand's prominence, history and public role.

There are also important aspects about the condition of the grandstand and the cost to make it suitable for spectators that should have been ventilated at a council meeting.

Now Racing Wodonga itself has been left wanting to clarify the reasoning behind the staff decision.

Contrast this closed shop style to Albury Council's attitude towards naming a new grandstand at Lavington Sports Ground.

That matter went to this week's council meeting and the public will now have the opportunity to comment on the plan to name the stand in honour of sporting stalwart Col Donnolley.

An Albury City team leader in his report on the plan stated "given the high-profile nature of this naming proposal, it is expected that there will be significant community interest".

The same rationale would have applied to a plan to demolish the grandstand at Wodonga racecourse, particularly if the proposal had been better publicised originally.

It's a shame in this case that there was a lack of recognition of the broader interest, let's hope any debate about expenditure on repairing the stand is done openly by councillors.

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