Project Overview

This project will see the expansion and upgrade of the oval at Peppercorn Park.

Bairnsdale City Oval is identified as East Gippsland's premier sporting facility. Home of Bairnsdale Football Netball Club (Gippsland Football Netball League), the West Bairnsdale Cricket Club, as well as the East Gippsland Umpire’s Association, the oval is used for major finals, representative games, and special events. There is a high demand for use of the facility, during the winter sporting season the main oval is used every day, often with three or four teams training at the same time.

Peppercorn Park is an alternate second playing field at Bairnsdale City Oval, however there are currently several barriers that significantly limit the use of this second oval, primarily the absence of lighting, meaning the field cannot be used after sunset.

The limitation on the use of Peppercorn Park creates two main issues -

1. Use of the overall facility is limited. There is no space for expansion for use of this oval during the winter months meaning Bairnsdale Football Club are limited in usage, and no other clubs or sports can effectively base themselves at this facility.
2. The high level of use of the main oval has a negative impact on the playing surface. The oval does not have time to recover during periods of high rainfall.

Objective and Scope

The redevelopment and expansion of Peppercorn Park is seen as a critical component, removing a major barrier to expansion of participation, particularly for females, this being the availability of training and playing space. The project will result in a high-quality playing surface that again means that all users will feel that they are not scheduled "on the back oval", but they have a high-quality venue that encourages high level competition.

The extension of Peppercorn Park includes:

• the expansion of the existing oval to 130m x 110m with 4m run off
• a fully levelled surface
• ground works to maximise the quality of playing surface
• Installation of an irrigation system
• Installation of new AFL goal posts
• placement of the existing non-compliant hard wicket cricket pitch to the centre of the oval, providing an excellent quality cricket ground

Funding

This project has been primarily funded through Sports and Recreation Victoria with contributions from East Gippsland Shire Council.

The Peppercorn Park Oval Upgrade is a separate project to the Peppercorn Park Lighting Upgrade. To read more on the Peppercorn Park Lighting Upgrade, click here.

This page will be updated as the works for this project progress.

For more information regarding this project please subscribe or contact Council Officers at feedback@egipps.vic.gov.au

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