Bollards installed at Colonial Reserve to keep vandals off fields

Hawkesbury Sports Council have been working on a solution to stop vandalism at the location for some time, and submitted a grant application to the government to have bollards installed this time last year.

Sports council president, David Bertenshaw said continual vandalism at the ovals meant weekend sport schedules were always affected.

He said the bollards would ensure the grounds remained usable for longer periods of time without damage.

“There have been a number of times where the fields have suffered severe damage from people entering the grounds with cars so these bollards should now stop that kind of vandalism,” Mr Bertenshaw said.

“We also decided to place the bollards around the inside of the reserve, near the fields, to make it more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.”

In September 2014 Hawkesbury Sports Council applied for a grant from the State Government under the Community Building Partnership Program.

In January this year the Premier announced that this application was successful. The works are being funded through this grant with Hawkesbury Sports Council matching the contribution made through the Community Building Partnership Program using the Capital Works Budget allocated annually by Hawkesbury City Council.

Council’s parks and recreation manager Sean Perry said the product they have used for the project is Replas Bollard, which is made from recycled plastic shopping bags.

“Each bollard consists of approximately 2250 plastic bags,” Mr Perry said.

“Given that 400 bollards are being used in these works, approximately 900,000 plastic shopping bags have been recycled.” Mr Perry said the bollards are hollow with four large holes at the bottom.

He said when concrete is poured into the hole to secure the post the bollard then fills up with concrete increasing the strength of it.

The works are scheduled for completion today, Wednesday, September 30.