COUNCILLOR Jess Jennings has accused some councillors of being unwilling to move on from the go-kart track saga after his motion regarding the future of McPhillamy Park failed.
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His motion proposed four things, one of those being to have the 10 acres of land gifted by Mrs McPhillamy in 1938 "formally recognised as public parkland as per the intention of the gift".
He wanted that land to be reclassified as community land under the Local Government Act, and for a masterplan vision and conservation management plan to be developed for the park.
Finally, he wanted the land previously allocated for the go-kart track to be reopened to the public.
On Wednesday night, deputy mayor Monica Morse tried to make the motion more palatable by proposing that Bathurst council's staff prepare a report for councillors at a later date addressing the issues of concern.
However, that did not appear to sway any councillors.
The motion was voted down by mayor Ian North and councillors Alex Christian, Bobby Bourke, Warren Aubin and Graeme Hanger.
The same five consistently voted in support of the go-kart track on top of Mount Panorama, and on Thursday Cr Jennings accused them of being unwilling to move on.
"The comments that were made by those who opposed it suggest they're still quite bitter about the go-kart track being disallowed and, rather than move on, they're looking to delay any progress that we can make to give this park back to the people of Bathurst," he said.
Cr Jennings channelled some of that criticism toward Cr Christian, who at Wednesday's council meeting said that the former site proposed for the go-kart track should remain off-limits "until the end of time".
"The Federal Government has decided that this is a significant Aboriginal place, maybe a sacred place. We can't be opening it up to the community to do whatever they like," Cr Christian said.
"I'm very confused: are we protecting this land or are you just opening it up for people to do what the hell they like?
"I think we need to get one of those fences that are around schools, those big black fences, and we need to fence this place off now for good until the end of time. It needs to be protected.
"That's what some people in the community fought very hard for, they won through the decision of Minister [Sussan] Ley, so why would we disrespect her and her findings and disrespect the elders who fought so hard to protect this land?"
Cr Jennings said those remarks "make no sense whatsoever" and that Cr Christian was "trying to make some sort of illogical extension of Sussan Ley's ruling".
If re-elected in September, Cr Jennings will look to get McPhillamy Park on the agenda for the new council.
In the meantime, he wants the community to share ideas for the future of the park.
"I'd be looking forward to seeing people from the community's thoughts and idea as to how that park can be enhanced and how they'd like to use it," he said.
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