HORSHAM council has deferred the adoption of its Open Space Strategy.
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The strategy's purpose is to help the council make long-term plans for the municipality's parks, playgrounds, bushland, paths, waterways, sporting facilities and civic spaces.
Councillors were due to vote on the adoption of the strategy at the council's ordinary meeting on November 25.
Cr David Grimble moved a motion at the meeting to defer the report to a future meeting pending a resolution regarding the council's draft City to River masterplan.
Cr Grimble had previously moved two motions at the meeting that asked the council to revoke McBryde Street as the suggested location for the proposed multi-sports precinct.
His motions also called for the completion of an independent feasibility study which considered Crown Land showgrounds site and the Horsham West (Jenkinson Avenue) option.
Councillors passed both motions unanimously.
Cr Grimble said it was "premature" to adopt the Open Space Strategy before identifying a preferred site for the multi-sports precinct.
"Having read through the document, there is a lot of good information for council to have a look at, but included are also a number of recommendations and initiatives that sit outside of the council plan and relate back to the City to River masterplan," he said.
"It picks up river crossings and talks about cycling, but it doesn't pick up what I believe people have been asking for which is another vehicle crossing across the river.
"I'm not saying that we don't adopt the strategy, we need to defer it so we can do that vital work."
Cr John Robinson seconded Cr Grimble's motion. He said it was potential the draft City to River masterplan and Open Space Strategy had "crossed purposes".
"(The Open Space Strategy) talks about connectivity of the city, the limitations of Horsham North and more open spaces. It also puts forward a 10 year vision on some of these things rather than a 20 year vision like the City to River," he said.
Mayor Mark Radford said he was happy to put the motion on hold.
"However, it's important to realise that this council has never had an open space strategy before. It gives us strategic justification of how the city is planned into the future, especially in terms of new housing," he said.
"The new strategy suggests we move from five per cent open space to 10 per cent."
The motion to defer the report was carried unanimously.
The council received eight community individual responses, five group responses, and one workshop response during the public exhibition period of the Open Space Strategy This totaled 304 public comments across the whole document.
See Horsham council's full November agenda below
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