We have added this specific information page to our site so that we can update members about how the "Baw Baw Shire Draft Equestrian Plan" (BBDEP) is progressing and how it relates to our club. We will add regular notes to this page. If you are on our mailing list we will also send a notification email of the posting. We apologise to members who do not have email but they can keep informed by visiting our website.   (Note 10 added April 25, 2007 - by Mark Bridgman  ) Baw Baw Shire Equestrian Facilities Plan BAW BAW COUNCILLORS VOTE - WE STAY - BUT IT IS NOT QUITE OVER YET  *************************************** It is fair to say that during the last two weeks since the decision was derered, all Councillors have been lobbied quite heavily by all effected clubs, including us. To the Councillors credit the way most have acknowledged our concerns and constructively responded to our comments and letters has been very impessive. They have had to determine what is right by listening to all sides of the debate - not just ours. Last night (Tuesday 24th April) Baw Baw Shire Councillors decided against supporting the Shire's Final Equestrian Plan as it stands in it's current form. Three members of Warragul PC and myself representing Drouin PC as well as Trafalgar reps attended the meeting. The vote was 7 against and 2 for.  However, Council agreed to 'receive' the plan only, on the basis that much of the data provided is valuable and recommendations MAY still be useful. Council further added that at this time; - urgent matters of safety be addressed on current grounds and referred for funding if necessary - Council continue to monitor the equestrian clubs needs in light of the plan - there is a continuation of the equestrian steering committee to work with the Shire to come up with a much more defined plan (which may take 1-2 years) - Collectively, equestrian clubs must have ownership and general acceptance any revised and more defined plan   Most Councillors spoke proir to the vote; - those who voted for the plan did primarily on he basis that a decision and direction needs to be made so effected clubs can move on and start planning for the future. - those who voted against the plan, as is was presented made comments such as; Not comfortable with adopting the report and all it's recommendations, We support our pony clubs and what they have established over many years, A local level facility at Trafalgar with 5 clubs is simply not adequate,  The clubs themselves are not happy to embrace the report at this time, Trafalgar's report and effort was impressive, Steering commitee needed to rework report with Shire over 1 to 2 years then represent to Council, Commuinity is not in full support of the report, Drouin rightly asked for assurances on full funding of a suitable location Council's job is to reflect the needs of the community and this has not been established yet Drouin and Warragul's cooperation to be relocated was not the preference, There are no alterative motives for relocation - Council wants only what is best for equestrian users. The plus side is that both Warragul and Drouin PC's will stay on their existing grounds for the forseable future and Traf may get a better deal. All clubs will have a greater say in a reworked equestrian plan. The negatives, unfortunately are still there; -there are still no written guarantees on tenure of either PC site, -it is most likely that this is not over by a long shot - our grounds are not yet secure in the medium to long term and we now have a longer and probably more drawn out process to work with now - funding for impovements to existing sites will most likely be limited to 'safety' issues only - at least until a defined plan is in place.  As far as our clubs are concerned, we will continue providing a great community service as always on the grounds we still love so much. In the background, a steering committee made up members of the effected clubs and the Shire will continue to rework the current document to be more suitable and acceptable to all.   (Note 9 added April 15, 2007 - by Mark Bridgman  ) Baw Baw Shire Equestrian Facilities Plan BAW BAW COUNCILLORS DEFER DECISION - CREATES NEW OPPORTUNITY *************************************** Baw Baw Shire Councillors decided to not vote on the Final Equestrian Plan at the last Council meeting last Wednesday 11th April. It will now be on the agenda for the next meeting Council meeting which is Tuesday 24th April at 5:30PM (due to the Anzac day holiday on Wednesday). Members from Drouin PC, Warragul PC and Adult Riding Club were present at the Council meeting. As we stated on the last posting (see note 8 below), the timeframe between the issuing of the final plan and Shire's recommendations and the date it went before Council for voting was rediculously short, which did not allow the Councillors the time they needed to make an informed decision on such an important and expensive matter. Thankfully the Councillors themselves recognised this and held over making a decision. This has now created a new opportunity for the effected clubs to lobby individual Councillors - presenting our side of the argument directly to each one individually. There are 9 councillors, and we need 5 to be sypathetic to our cause for the Warragul and Drouin clubs to retain the existing grounds. In this new letter, we have also requested that IF Council decides NOT to support the recommended relocation, that some written surety be provided by the Shire to the effected clubs that this disruptive process will not be undertaken again in 2 or 5 years time. We would simply like a guarantee that we have security over our grounds for at least the next 10 years. Warragul and Drouin representitives are still working together on this. Remember that if one ground is lost, both will be relocated.  Today a letter has been faxed to each Councillor, which will be followed up with a copy of our response to the Draft Proposal - which we still stand by. In addition, we are putting together yet another response to the Final Plan, highlighting some of the very obvious errors in the report. Our response to the original draft proposal can be downloaded from the link below (under comments of Note 8 of 9th April following).   (Note 8 added April 9, 2007) Baw Baw Shire Equestrian Facilities Plan FINAL REPORT  *************************************** Baw Baw Shire has released their final facilities plan, which was emailed to club representitives Thusday afternoon, just before the Easter break. It is going before council this Wednesday 11th April, commencing 5:30PM (the Baw Baw Shire site has the meeting agenda available for download). The meeting is open to the public to attend. Being the Final Report, there is no other opporunity for us or other equestrian clubs to respond. While the report is long and very comprehensive (put together by Melbourne based consultants), it is still not correct in relation to the Drouin Pony Club, in particular our ability to host events, carparking, disiplines catered for etc. I'm sure any club member who will be able to find numerous issues that we do not agree with in the report. However, despite the obvious discrepancies, the fact remains that the Shire do have a growing recreation planning issue with the population in the Drouin Warragul area expected to double by 2020. Once you read through the report, it appears quite clear that the growth of the Drouin residential area and the need for additional recreational facilities, and the inadequacy of the current Warragul PC grounds to catter for a growing sport on shared grounds at Logan Park,  have driven the report writters to recommend to Shire that a new 'greenfields' site be located and established in the Drouin / Warragul area. The proposed new site is to be of 'municipal' standard, meaning the premier equestrian facility of the Shire, which would become the home of both Douin and Warragul Pony Clubs on a shared basis. This was our second option on our response to to original draft. The first and preferred option was to retain our existing grounds.  The new facility would also need to host other major events of other clubs within the Shire. While I accept that some members will not be happy with this outcome, remember that we were successful in stopping the Lardner Park proposal (which definately was not suitable), the new site will be a brand new greenfields site most likely funded by the Shire along wih State Government grants, and the new site will be found and developed in conjunction with representitives of the various effected equestiran clubs. Of course, the proposed report still needs to be passed through the Council, before it becomes a definate plan. Please remember that Drouin Pony Club is one of may equestrian clubs in the Shire, and that we do not have the ultimate decision in where our club finally located; the best we can do is to have our voice and opinions heard as an important member of the equestrian community in order to influence the decisions that the Shire makes that will effect us and all other clubs in the area. This is what we have done to date, and will continue to do so. We will of course take an active part in any new committee setup to work with the Shire on the new proposal, provided it is approved. Due to its size the Shire final report has been removed from this site. If you wish any further information on the report or a copy of the report contact Mark Bridgman using the link below. A copy of our response to the Shire's Initial Draft Report, which was sent to the Shire late February can be downloaded here.    *************************************** If you wish to make comment, contact Mark Bridgman Click here to contact Mark Bridgman

(Note 7 added February 19, 2007) Baw Baw Shire Equestrian Plan Meeting 6:30 pm , 28th February, 2007 to held at Baw Baw Shire, upstairs 61 Smith St Warragul The following invitation email was received for Kerry Irwin of Baw Baw Shire council. *************************************** Good afternoon all I would like to invite you to attend a meeting on the 28/2/07 at 6.30pm at Baw Baw Shire, upstairs 61 Smith St Warragul. The aim of the meeting is for club representataives to share their clubs response to the Baw Baw Equestrian Plan. All responses will have been received by council at this point so this is an opportunity to present clubs ideas, challenges and recommendations. I will provide a light dinner for all in attendance so if you could pls RSVP to this email by 26/2/07. Club reps are welcome to bring along other members. Look forward to seeing you cheers Kerry Irwin Manager Recreation Baw Baw Shire Council *************************************** If you wish to attend please RSVP via Mark Bridgman who will collect the numbers. Click here to contact Mark Bridgman

(Note 6 added February 19, 2007) Equestrian Plan Inter Club Meeting 7:30 pm , 20th February, 2007 held at the offices of Phaser Changer A sub group of the Equestrian group representatives have formulated a draft response to the Baw Baw Shire. This response has been distributed for comment prior to this meeting. All are welcome to comment. The plan will be discussed at this meeting before submission to the shire. For further information Click here to contact Mark Bridgman

(Note 5 added February 04, 2007) Result of Equestrian Plan Inter Club Meeting 7:30 pm , 31st January, 2007 held at the offices of Phaser Changer Several Equestrian groups had representatives at the meeting. Discussion was open and informative and good progress was made. The views of all the groups were put forward and the meeting decided that a small group of four individuals from the group would be delegated the responsibility of reviewing all the documented comments and producing a proposal with several possible options for the future of equestrian facilities within the Baw Baw Shire. This report will then be distributed to the larger group who will then make comment and refine the document into a finalised proposal.

(Note 4 added Jan 25, 2007) Information update Baw Baw Shire Equestrian Plan Inter Club Meeting 7:30 pm , 31st January, 2007 to be held at the offices of Phaser Changer (Opposite Longwarry Post office) On 23rd January, DPC members Tina Winch, Mark and Jo Bridgman and Sue McKibbon (representing Riding for the Disabled) attended the Shire’s ‘tour’ of the Lardner Park proposed municipal site and the newly acquired land for a future recreation facility at Trafalgar. Most other equestrian clubs were represented also, as well as several Shire Counselors and employees. Discussion was informal, but reasonably informative. It was good to see that emotions were more settled than in the past, and people are looking more logically at the issues involved. The next step will be to meet with the other effected clubs, separately to the Shire in order to form a written and acceptable submission back to the Shire before the end of February. Whatever the final position we propose, it must mean improvements in the facilities and grounds that the club uses, although we may have to accept some compromises in other areas. At this stage I do not think it wise to say too much, until we get the views of other effected clubs, then the general DPC committee in order to work out a game plan. If anyone has constructive ideas, comments or specific questions that they would like included, please email Mark Bridgman mark@phasechanger.com and Tina Winch rivendale@dcsi.net.au as soon as possible. Remember that the Shire is very serious about a new and extensive recreation plan that WILL effect all equestrian clubs within Baw Baw Shire. The next month of input is our only real opportunity to propose what we would realistically expect, and a joint and commonly accepted proposal by several clubs together will carry much more weight at final decision time than a lot of individual (and possibly self centred) ideas. While it is likely that not everyone will be happy with the final proposal, remember that what we put together will be the best that we can jointly agree on for not just the short term, but also the long term requirements and desires of our local clubs. The inter-club meeting is planned for Wednesday 31st January. Kind Regards Mark

(Note 3 added Nov 14, 2006) Outcome of November 13, 2006 meeting at Shire offices in Warragul Thank you to all the members who made the effort and attended this meeting. The numbers attending from our club and other effected equestrian clubs gave us a powerful voice that was listened to by the shire representatives. An extension to the November 26 deadline for responses was discussed and it was agreed that this would be extended to a date to be determined after the workshops were completed. During the workshops many club representatives identified issues with the original communication process and also many of the statistical figures used as a basis for the plan recommendation. The shire representatives and the represented clubs agreed to establish a formal process where all clubs had a defined representative. A formal and documented process will be instigated to review the existing draft before responses are requested. The shire stated they were committed to working with us to get the best outcome and we congratulate them on their approach. Mark Bridgman has offered to be the DPC representative and will attend the next committee meeting to discuss how best we can internally implement a structure that will lead to the best outcome for our club.

(Note 2 added Nov 12, 2006) Important Meeting November 13, 2006 about Draft Equestrian Plan As many members as possible should attend this meeting to demonstrate our club interest in how this will effect the future of our club. When:6:00 pm November 13th Where:Shire Offices, Civic Place, Warragul

(Note 1 added Nov 10, 2006) Extremely important information that effects the future of you and your club!! The Baw Baw Shire has released the Draft Equestrian Plan for the shire. This plan impacts all club members! A representative of the shire will be at our next rally to discuss the plan. Use the link below to move to the relevent page of the Baw Baw shire web site. Go to the bottom of the page and use the link provided to download the plan in PDF format. Make yourself familiar with the plan so that you can take the opportunity to give your opinion and have an effect on your equestrian future. Click here to go to the Baw baw Shire site and download the Equestrian Draft Plan