A GROUP of South Bathurst residents has banded together calling for an upgrade to a sad little park sitting unloved beside College Road.
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And with three councillors now standing beside them, they look like winning the battle.
Tina Quinn has only lived in the area a few months but she is leading the campaign to provide a new recreation option for local children.
She said she and other mothers in the area around Currawang Street and College Road decided to do something after watching bored young children riding on the roads.
"A couple of mothers and I were having a coffee and trying to work out what we could do for the kids to be safer," she said.
"We all thought the park would be the answer so we came up with a petition asking for support. Pretty much everywhere I go I take it with me and I'm just talking to as many people as I can."
Councillors Jess Jennings, Jacqui Rudge and John Fry caught wind of the community-led campaign and reached out to the residents to offer their support.
But while upgrades of major CBD parks such as Victoria Park and Centennial Park have gone through a lengthy master plan process taking several years, Cr Jennings wants to see action at South Bathurst within weeks.
A quick look around the park (story continues after video)
He wants to see council throw in a few thousand dollars and then call on the support of local business people, tradies, community groups and residents to give the park a cheap and cheerful makeover.
"Half a dozen trees, half a dozen shrubs, a shelter and some shade would probably cost no more than $15,000," Cr Jennings said.
"We've been told internally by staff when we started investigating this that to do a master plan for this park alone - without a sod of work - would be $50,000-$100,000 so we thought, stuff that, let's go straight to the chase and see if we can get a result here in the short term.
Satellite view showing the park's location
"We would like to call on any of the Bathurst community whether it be Greening Bathurst, Rahamim, BCCAN, Skillset, the Boundary Road Reserve Group, tradesmen, building companies - anyone that might want to contribute a small amount to get some action happening here."
Cr Jennings said there were a lot of young families and single mothers living near the park who would appreciate having somewhere nearby to take their kids to play.
Along with councillors Rudge and Fry, he planned to raise the issue at Wednesday night's policy committee meeting of Bathurst Regional Council to put the matter on the agenda.
But he was not interested in seeking an allocation of funding in the 2019-2020 budget process.
"I don't want to wait until next financial year, I want it done by the end of April," he said.
Ms Quinn said there was a range of age groups that would benefit from an upgraded park.
She would like to see play equipment installed for very young children, climbing equipment such as monkey bars and slides for older children and a basketball hoop for teenagers.
She praised the councillors for their support.
"They've been fantastic, just great people and really easy to talk to," she said.
