By Tom Cowie
It’s a plan that some think is win-win: a private school offering to replace ageing council-owned pavilions with new facilities that can cater to more women’s teams.
However, opponents of the idea argue a proposed new lease deal hands virtual ownership of a public park to that private school – for generations.
Old Ivanhoe Grammarians Football Club vice president Sienna Whiteman says a new two-storey pavilion at Chelsworth Park would improve accessibility for different players.Credit: Justin McManus
Ivanhoe Grammar School has used Chelsworth Park in Ivanhoe as the home of its sports teams for decades as part of an arrangement with Banyule City Council that is due to run until at least 2034.
Under the agreement, Ivanhoe Grammar has priority use of seven sports ovals, three tennis courts and two pavilions in exchange for paying for maintenance of the grounds, which costs about $400,000 per year.
The public is permitted to access the 11-hectare site outside of school use – usually limited to training on weeknights and matches on Saturdays – while Ivanhoe Grammar is not allowed to put up fences preventing entry.
The council will decide this month whether to sign a new lease with the school that will allow it to use Chelsworth Park for another 30 years – with the option to extend the tenancy by a further 10 years. If it proceeds under the proposed timeline, the lease could run until 2064.
In return, the school would pay for the redevelopment of two pavilions at the park, at a cost of $14 million. The grounds are also used by nine community sporting teams, such as the Old Ivanhoe Grammarians Football Club.
Sienna Whiteman, vice president of the football club, said a new two-storey pavilion would increase the number of change rooms from two to four, providing more accessibility to different players.
“The existing facilities are clearly obsolete, it evokes an era where football was male-centric,” she said.
But some community members expressed their opposition to the deal at a council meeting last month.
A render of a proposed new pavilion at Chelsworth Park.
They raised concerns about increased use of the park, the size of one of the new structures, a lack of car parking and the loss of trees.
“The reason I’m opposed to it is due to the lack of consultation and the use of public space by an exclusive private school,” said one objector, Liz O’Connor, who has lived in the area on and off since 1992.
“They are the tenant and yet they feel they have the right to put up a massive structure without any input from the community.”
Another objector, Helen O’Kane, said she believed the proposal for a new lease was being driven more by Ivanhoe Grammar than Banyule council.
Plans for the new pavilions are still being prepared by the school.
“I just think this is particularly outrageous,” she said. “I’ve lived here for 50 years and I’ve watched Ivanhoe Grammar, which is a very privileged private school, encroach on the community amenity.”
O’Kane said the new lease would mean Ivanhoe Grammar was the tenant for another two generations.
“That’s virtually ownership,” she said. “It’s a long time.”
Whiteman, a former Ivanhoe Grammar student, said the football club was struggling to attract women to play because of the current 1970s-era building, designed by prominent architect Graeme Gunn.
Sienna Whiteman said the 1970s-era building did not provide safe changing facilities for women.Credit: Justin McManus
“It not only doesn’t provide safe changing facilities for women who are playing, but also for other roles such as umpiring.”
Christian Cortese, president of the Old Ivanhoe Soccer Club, which also uses the ground, said sporting teams were growing fast in the area and needed better facilities to accommodate players, particularly girls and women.
“The challenge that we find with a club of 350 members is having one pavilion with two change rooms,” he said.
“It is one of those sorts of situations that it is definitely not safe and up to current standards to allow females to interact with our sport.”
A spokesperson for Ivanhoe Grammar said it was awaiting the council’s decision this month.
“We hope it will be of benefit to the whole community, especially in the improvement of facilities for girls’ sport,” they said.
A Banyule City Council spokesperson said that feedback was being considered before a formal decision on May 20.
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