The Hampden Football Netball League earlier this week voted to cancel its senior competition for the year.

The Warrnambool and District league is yet to decide whether its season will go ahead. But its club East Warrnambool, a co-tenant, is in recess for this season, meaning the oval would not be used weekly for matches.

With new turf already growing and scheduled to be laid in November/December, Cr Sue Cassidy said the most cost effective move was to stick to the timeline.

Bringing forward part of the works could increase the cost in the long run - something Cr Cassidy said the council couldn't afford to do, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic which had hit the city's budget hard.

Work was due to begin after what would have been the Hampden league grand final, and Cr Cassidy said the plan was to still aim for that date.

The project team had considered bringing forward the works to take advantage of the current situation. But she said it was more appropriate, cost effective and efficient to stick to the timeline and engage a single contractor, which would streamline the work.

"The suggestion from the community to get started now on the Reid Oval, it does make sense, but it doesn't work with everything," she said.

"Who knows, now that (Hampden's) not going on, maybe something will get knocked down but as for anything major we do need the contractor to come in."

Cr Cassidy said awarding the contract was not far away.

"We have a timeline and we are sticking to it," she said.

Cr Cassidy said the optimum time for the new turf to be laid was November/December, and bringing it forward would compromise its integrity

She said the whole project revolved around the turf, and the turf and new clubrooms had to be done together because of the levelling of the site.

"Because you've got the slope, it all needs to get done at the same time so it all gels in together," she said.

"The turf is massive. It is a massive part of the whole thing. If the turf's not right we're going to be in trouble, and it's not cheap.

"They've also got to think of weather too. If we were to progress the sports oval we'd end up with a higher project construction cost due to weather and compromise of the turf growth and establishment of it."

Cr Cassidy said the council had to be careful with the budget on the project. "We had to ultra careful before, but it's even a more serious thing now. Because of COVID-19, there is no extra money," she said.

"We do have to be very careful we don't go over budget so keeping to timelines is going to keep our focus on making sure we do not go over budget."

Cr Cassidy said the council was still in discussions with umpires and East Warrnambool Football Netball Club over their concerns with the new building designs. "It's been hard with COVID-19. It's been hard to have meetings," she said.

Warrnambool and District Umpires Association president Steve Walker said they were still stuck in limbo over whether they would have to stay at their old facilities or move to the new building, which doesn't suit their needs.

Mr Walker said they still had concerns that hadn't been addressed that they wanted to discuss with the council.

He said while he appreciated the council couldn't hold meetings during COVID-19, he hadn't heard from the council since the end of March.

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