Cricketers call stumps on phone tower

After two seasons without training nets at Banksia Reserve, the cricketers of Beaumaris Cricket Club are joining Bayside City Council to call for the immediate relocation of the Telstra mobile phone tower at the Reserve to allow the nets to be built.

Bayside City Council Mayor Cr Michael Heffernan said despite Telstra recently agreeing to commence the relocation on 1 August 2019, the work is yet to commence and they have not provided any formal update.

 “We are very disappointed that Telstra is keeping Council and the Beaumaris Cricket Club in the dark as to when the mobile phone tower will be moved," he said.

“Council stands ready to begin construction on new cricket nets for the Club as soon as the mobile tower is moved."

“We want to provide the Club’s 250 players with training nets at their home ground so they can use the new facilities at Banksia Reserve pavilion, not spend a third season training away from home,” Cr Heffernan said.

Beaumaris Cricket Club President Troy Arendarcikas said the delay in the relocation of the tower is impacting the club financially as well causing them to lose members.

“Under normal circumstances we would have had teams training at Banksia Reserve every night of the week. Having to train elsewhere has resulted in the loss of $25,000 in revenue and we are also having difficulty attracting sponsors,” he said.

“The club community has been fantastic in understanding the challenges but it is frustrating for players, parents and supporters. We cannot continue to ask them to travel all over Bayside for training,” Mr Arendarcikas said.

More details  The relocation of the mobile phone tower at Banksia Reserve was scheduled to occur two years ago so new cricket nets could be built. Beaumaris Cricket Club has not trained at their home ground of Banksia Reserve since 2017. The Banksia Reserve cricket nets were planned to be built the same time as the new pavilion which opened in September 2018. The nets are to be built on land currently occupied by the Telstra mobile phone tower. Council has worked with Telstra to enter a new lease agreement to facilitate the relocation of the mobile phone tower since August 2016. Despite a recent agreement with Telstra to commence the relocation on 1 August 2019, the work is yet to commence and Telstra has not provided any formal update. The construction of the nets is expected to take 6-8 weeks.