Cr Les Power: Sport and recreation key to region's recovery

Published on 11 December 2020

I’d like to thank the people of our municipality for electing me as a Councillor for another four years.

My main motivation for re-nominating is to keep working to progress the projects that we have started in recent years.

In particular, I want to see Horsham emerge as a true regional city with the facilities to attract people and events.

Therefore I am looking forward to seeing how the detailed planning for the second stage of the City to River Masterplan comes together. With the riverfront area done last year, the focus is now moving to the Horsham City Oval and Sawyer Park precinct.

A new Community Reference Group is being established to help guide the public engagement process, and I encourage everyone to become proactively involved in helping to come up with a clear picture of what the community wants to see happen.

I have been a long-time advocate of upgrading the City Oval. When it comes to sports facilities, it has been the Wimmera’s premier ground since it was last redeveloped in the 1980s. But the reality is that many other regional centres now have better facilities, and in future years, we will start to fall behind.

I would like to see Horsham host regional and state sporting events – whether that be cricket, footy, basketball, hockey, netball or whatever - our location halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide makes us a suitable place. We just need to act now to get our facilities up to scratch.  

Water skiing is another sporting pursuit I would like to help grow in our municipality. I have been a long-term advocate of allowing water skiing to happen in Horsham, on a stretch of river where it is suitable for all concerned.

Activity on the river and in our parks and sporting grounds is what we need.

As we draw ever closer to the new year, the return to normality is on the minds of many.  The reappearance of community and sporting groups will be crucial.

In particular, I would like to see parents encouraging our kids to get back into playing sports. Our clubs are the lifeblood of our community because being part of them is so good for our physical and mental health.

As a board member of the Horsham District Football and Netball League, it is exciting to see the positivity that is already building ahead of next year.

There is a lot of work to be done, but with many people contributing, we could be set for a bumper season.

I’m looking forward to 2021, with our community reinvigorated, we can all set our sights on making our municipality an even better place to be.