Dear Mayor of Blacktown council,

We need your support to establish a park in Reserve 925 in William Street, Grantham Farm.

Currently the suburb of Grantham Farm has over a thousand dwellings with the majority being families with young children. Unfortunately, there is a huge lack of planning and implementation from council where there are no active parks and playground walking distance for current residence. We are barely able to find a park in the whole suburb.

Blacktown council's plan is to provide a park with a playground in Reserve 925, per their section 7.11 contribution plan. This iis scheduled for completion in 2025 and is grossly under budgeted at $558,000. The issue with the timeline is that over the next 4-5 years, a lot of the young children will be older, and we feel that letting 4-5 years of these childrens' life wasted will be a detriment to their quality of living and lifestyle in the suburb. This also applies for owners with pets, or residents looking for a nice safe space to exercise and walk.

At the present time, a lot of the kids are playing on the roads which is an extreme safety hazard, especially given the large construction vehicles in the area. I am sure Blacktown Council understands the importance and impact of a proper park to these Kids mental growth, safety and lifelong wellbeing. Our children cannot wait for the next 4-5 years to have a park to play. They deserve to have a happy childhood memories in a neighbourhood park when they are growing up.

Additionally, we have no confidence Council will actually implement this park. This is based on research from our local real estate which shows Council have not yet even acquired the land for the park. The location of the park requires atleast 200 metres of half road and carriageway 8 - 9 metres wide which no doubt is in excess of the measly budget for the park and playground, let alone the acquisition of the land. Some owners have paid more for their 500sqm block of land in Grantham Farm, than council have budgeted for a park, playground, roads, and land acquisition of 16,000sqm or 12,000sqm of park. What has happened to all the contributions paid by developers and the state government over the last 5-10 years in this precinct/suburb?

Please find here our petition to the mayor of Blacktown Council to increase section 7.11 contribution and take immediate action to establish a proper park and playground in Reserve 925 in William Street (Lot 7, DP 1459, Section 27) of Grantham Farm for our Kids wellbeing and safety.