by Cam Lucadou-Wells
A sewerage stench has plagued a brand-new sports pavilion at Ross Reserve, Noble Park.
For nearly two months, Greater Dandenong Council has been investigating the pong which has worsened to reportedly sickening levels.
After a visit on a recent weekend, councillor Tim Dark told a council meeting on 25 March that the building was “borderline unusable”.
“It’s getting a lot worse. It’s basically encompassing the whole pavilion – the changeroom smells, the kitchen smells, the main area stinks of raw sewage.”
Cr Dark said the smell was so strong that clubs were concerned about the health impacts on players.
A visitor to the reserve in February told Star Journal of a “foul and nauseating” odour outside of the pavilion.
“It was actually really weird because it was specific to the one area, the smell was not all over the reserve.”
Greater Dandenong Council is yet to get to the bottom of the stench.
A council spokesperson said that plumbing contractors had flushed out pits and drains and cleaned traps since the first reports on 6 February.
The smell had been thought to be “intermittent”, with no smells being detected during plumbers’ inspections over multiple weeks.
In October, the long-awaited $11.26 million pavilion and lighting upgrade was unveilled.
The new pavilion features six female-friendly change rooms, first aid rooms, three all-gender umpires’ rooms, accessible toilets, meeting rooms, a canteen and storage spaces.
The facility caters for 300 players from Springvale City Soccer Club, Noble Park Junior Football Club, Sandown Lions Football Club and EMC Sports Club, as well as Parkfield and Noble Park cricket clubs and RecLink.
