Fatter, sicker and lonelier

It's strange for a city so proud of its sporting culture to turn playing fields into a road and condemn residents to a fatter, sicker and lonelier future.

In the week before Christmas the Victorian Government offered a $15 million "shut up and go away" package to the City of Melbourne "as compensation for disruptions the East West Link project will cause" to sporting clubs in Royal Park (Herald Sun, 19/12/13).

At least nine clubs and thousands of players will be directly affected in the short term. Many more will be if the project goes ahead. Over nine hectares of the most valuable parkland owned by the City of Melbourne will be lost in Royal Park alone.

The $15 million Christmas gift to the City of Melbourne won't create any new open space, or address health, social cohesion and recreation challenges faced by a growing city needing more open space and sporting fields.

The East West tunnel will reduce the supply of open space and sporting fields when more is needed.

Even without the East West Tunnel the City of Melbourne expects to face a shortfall of 10 Aussie Rule ovals, 12 cricket fields, and 12 soccer pitches over the next 16 years.

The Victorian Government must commit to meeting this and other shortfalls in Moreland and Moonee Valley where demand for sporting fields is outstripping supply.

I've been a volunteer with Youlden-Parkville Cricket Club, one of Royal Park's community sporting clubs, for 15 years.

Over the last five years our club has been transformed by grabbing opportunities created by a growing population.

Even though participation in cricket across the state has been in decline for the last three years we've more than doubled in size. We now have more junior than senior teams. Our program for boys and girls aged 5 to 10 years increased by 55% in 2013.

Our junior and senior programs will get bigger.

Between 2011 and 2030 the City of Melbourne's population is expected to grow from 98 000 to 181 000. Populations will also grow in neighboring municipalities who also use Royal Park for sport and passive recreation.

Developments in the Arden Macauley precinct will bring 20 000 extra residents into North Melbourne. Ten thousand more could settle a possible new development of the rail yards between North Melbourne Rail Station and Dynon Road.

That's the same as putting a town as big as Warnambool right on the edge of Royal Park.

People need open space and sporting fields. Without them they get fatter, sicker and lonelier. Recreation is proven to be good for mental health, reduces obesity and builds social cohesion.

Good clubs create positive peer pressure. They help people build self-respect and create opportunities to be part of a community.

The tunnel builders claim to be "linking Melbourne". Community sport in places like Royal Park already connects people. The tunnel threatens those connections.

Royal Park draws people from surrounding suburbs to its great sporting fields and natural wonders.

Its bushland is an airport for migratory birds. Ancient gum trees, old when Burke and Wills set off for their misadventure, still stand tall.

The East West Tunnel doesn't just destroy sporting fields in Royal Park. It also rips through open space in Moreland and Moonee Valley.

The knock-on effect of loses in surrounding municipalitieswill be to increase competition for what open space and sporting fields remain in Royal Park.

There just won't be enough to go round.

Five years of disruption and displacement during tunnel construction will play havoc with the financial viability of community clubs.

The Victorian Government will force communities into bitter contests between passive and active recreational use in remaining parkland.

It's cynical and divisive politics. It puts at risk vital green infrastructure – open space, natural places, sporting fields - that's critical to a safe, healthy and well-functioning city.

In their haste to build new road infrastructure the Victorian Government has failed to account for the any of the social and environmental values of existing green infrastructure.

Premier Napthine should commit to providing a net increase in green infrastructure within the City of Melbourne and other impacted municipalities. Options for purchasing properties that could be incorporated into an expanded Royal Park should be explored.

So far, no-ones proved more traffic is worth the cost.