At its June meeting, Wattle Range Council considered a report from the Chief Executive Officer detailing land assets that could potentially be surplus to Council requirements or are not producing community benefit.

The report identifying potentially surplus land arises from Council's 2008/09 Budget deliberations, when the sale of surplus property was identified as a deliberate strategy to generate funds that could be allocated towards capital projects and was acknowledged as a responsible strategy in managing the Council's assets.

The report tabled by the Chief Executive Officer Mr. Frank Brennan stated "following a review of Council's Community Land Register I have identified the following land/property as being surplus to Council's requirements and believe it should be subject to appropriate detailed examination in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act 1999 relating to the disposal of community land.

The land identified is held by Council under various forms of tenure, including freehold, leasehold, dedication or reservation, and the options for disposal will vary depending on the form of tenure relating to the specific land/property"

Depending on the nature of the land and the existing tenure the disposal of land could occur through sale of the property, return the property to the Crown, purchase from the Crown and develop for resale.

In reviewing the schedule of properties Councilors commented that the list should be seen as properties that have the potential to be surplus rather than defining the properties as simply "surplus to Council's requirements". The properties include land previously identified as rock quarries, water reserves and other small holdings scattered throughout the Council area.

Mr. Brennan explained "that each property must be maintained and although the expenditure on some properties was small when expenditure was aggregated the cost to Council was not insignificant".

Included in the schedule were two properties that were recognised by Council as likely to draw public comment, being Millicent's Bolton Oval complex and allotments on Railway Terrace, Beachport.

However Mr. Brennan advised Council "that the sale of land held by Council as "community land" was subject to a defined public consultation process which allows the community to comment on the proposed revocation of the community land classification of the land and its disposal. Council will then be in a position to assess the community response and be able to make an informed decision about any community benefits of retaining the land".

It has previously been suggested that the Bolton Oval complex could be sold to fund the proposed McLaughlin Park redevelopment project.

Mr. Brennan said, "that given the number of properties involved details of properties would be advertised and public comment sought over a period of time in a manner that would enable the process to be properly managed and resourced".