By Jeremy Sollars
No funding allocation will be included in the Southern Downs Regional Budget for 2017-2018 for the replacement of shelter sheds at Swanfels Pioneer Memorial Park demolished earlier this year by the council.
Councillors at their April meeting in Warwick yesterday discussed the results of community consultation on replacement of the sheds, which the council said were unsafe due to termite damage.
A community survey showed overwhelming support for a proposal to replace the historic shelters with a building of a structure, appearance and materials as close as possible to the originals.
As reported in the Free Times, current and former local residents and former students of Swanfels State School were furious when the council razed the shelter sheds to the ground on 20 January, less than 72 hours after announcing the sheds – which the council said were infested with termites – were to go.
The larger of the two sheds was originally the play shed at the former Swanfels SS, while the smaller structure was formerly the school’s tennis shelter.
Many blasting the council for a lack of notice and pre-consultation and adamant the sheds – each more than a century old – could have been repaired as a community project.
Councillors yesterday said replacement with a ‘like-for-like’ structure could cost up to $100,000 which was not considered affordable.
But they did commit to allocating $25,000 in the contingency fund in the 2018-2019 budget, and will undertake design of a new structure with community consultation by 30 June this year.
It is understood a Swanfels resident with a civil engineering background has offered to undertake the design work free of charge.
A council report – a copy of which was obtained by the Free Times – made it clear that termite damage to the original shelter sheds was not insurmountable, leaving many to question why the demolition was ever carried out.
The report by Osborn Consulting stated that while “the building does not meet the current regulatory standards framework … it is generally in good structural condition (and) damaged and missing elements … could be remediated and/or replaced which may increase the life expectancy of the structure”.
The council in its 2015-2016 Budget set aside $20,000 for the works referred to in the Osborn Consulting report.
The Free Times has previously asked the council for details of the cost of the Osborn report and the cost of the demolition itself and were refused, although council did confirm the demolition work was done by Stanthorpe firm Rob Wilkinson Building.
