Moyne has allocated $220,000 to extend Panmure Football Netball Club’s netball change rooms.

This comes as part of the council’s 2018-19 budget, which also includes $60,000 for the installation of an irrigation system at East Framlingham Golf Club and $20,000 for improvements at the Macarthur swimming pool.   

In the 2018 community satisfaction survey, Moyne had a rating of 69 for its recreational facilities, above its overall rating of 57. Moyne’s rating for recreational facilities also exceeded the large rural shire average in this category, which sat at a 66.

Moyne Shire councillor Daniel Meade said support for recreational activities was an important function of the council.

“In many cases, sporting clubs are the heart beat of small communities,” Cr Meade said.

“We need to make sure we have good facilities for the men and women in these organisations.

“The better the facilities, the easier it becomes for those community volunteers who work so hard.

“As a council, we are happy to be able to do our part and provide funding at a local level and chase state and federal government money.”

The Panmure change rooms will be funded through $100,000 from a state government grant and $60,000 each from Moyne and the Panmure Football Netball Club.

The Macarthur pool will be funded by the council while the East Framlingham Golf Club and council will split the cost of the new irrigation system.

Panmure Football Netball Club president Maree Condon said the new change rooms were desperately needed.

“This is fantastic news, as anyone who has seen the state of the facilities we have now would know,” Ms Condon said.

“When the change rooms we use now were built, we only had two netball teams.

“Now we have three junior and three senior teams, as well as the opposition, and we have one shower.

“What is happening is the girls are freezing cold after a game so they go home and have a shower and a lot of times don’t come back.

“So the new facilities will help keep everyone together, which helps with the social side of the club which is so important.” 

East Framlingham Golf Club treasurer Eddie Kenna said funding from the council would be put to good use.

“It’s terrific news for the golf club and the community,” Mr Kenna said.

“We haven’t really got an irrigation system at the moment, it is just shifting sprinklers around by hand.

“We will use the funding to get a de-sal unit because the water has a bit of salt in it.

“We will then put in automated sprinklers around the green as the first stage, which we will roll out over the next few years.”