By Jeremy Sollars
The Southern Downs Regional Council has approved an extension of the lease area at Morgan Park for the Warwick Polocrosse Club to create a larger camping area for visiting competitors.
Councillors at their March meeting in Stanthorpe on Wednesday 22 March voted in favour at a confidential meeting session to allow the club to lease an area comprising around two acres of the old Warwick dump, just to the north of their existing grounds.
Warwick Polocrosse Club president Les Fraser said the club was excited about the extension, which follows a deal struck with its immediate Morgan Park neighbour the Warwick Dragway to take over some vacant land the dragway was not utilising.
“We did a deal with the dragway that we would take on an area they weren’t using adjoining our land – we’ve fenced it and put in two practice fields and a training area,” Mr Fraser said.
“With the area which is the former dump it will allow us to expand to provide extra parking for horse trucks and competitors.
“We are looking ahead to the Polocrosse World Cup which we’re hosting in 2019.”
Mr Fraser said the club was hopeful the new lease arrangements would be fully signed off on by the middle of this year.
The council will require the club to plant a vegetation buffer zone along the boundary with the former dump within a month of the new lease being signed, to prevent horses and people accessing the area.
According to the council meeting minutes the plantings must have a minimum tree height of one metre at planting and be of species “that are fast-growing, frost-resistant and drought-hardy”.
The next major event for the Warwick Polocrosse Club is three events rolled into one – the Shell Cup Club Carnival, the Barastoc Interstate and the International Test Series between Australia and South Africa, being held between Thursday 20 April and Sunday 23 April.
League legend Shane Webcke will be the guest speaker at a Queensland Polocrosse Association breakfast at the Morgan Park grounds on the Friday morning, before the Barastoc Interstate gets underway.
More information at www.warwickpolox.com.au
