Latrobe City Council to take over upkeep of two rural reserves as volunteer rates fall

“Both committees have been responsible for the management and maintenance of their grounds since before I was born.”

Author

Jacob Wallace
July 03, 2026

With fewer volunteers and others looking to step away from maintaining ovals and grounds around the Latrobe Valley, Latrobe City Council is stepping in to take the maintenance load off ageing committees.

What happened: At a meeting on June 29, Latrobe City Council unanimously moved to dissolve community-run committees at George Bates Reserve in Yallourn North and Baillie Reserve in Tyers. Instead,  the council will take over the cost and maintenance of the grounds.

The council had offered to take over responsibilities from all 11 of its community-run reserves. Only the Yallourn North and Tyers groups took up the offer.

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Numbers down: Councillor Darren Howe said the council had identified "a long-term decline in community volunteering, which was increasingly relying on a small number of older volunteers".

  • Howe said this trend was impacting all of the council's community asset committees.

Under the new model, the council will set up an advisory committee for the George Bates Reserve and Baillie Reserves.

  • What’s the difference? Whereas a community committee can make decisions about how the reserve is maintained and run, an advisory group can only make recommendations to council.

Councillor Steph Morgan said the change would lift maintenance to a standard consistent with the reserves across the rest of Latrobe City.

Morgan said: “Both committees have been responsible for the management and maintenance of their grounds since before I was born.”

  • The council estimates the George Bates and Baillie Reserve committees have been responsible for the grounds since the council was amalgamated in the mid-1990s.

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"It would be a bit mad to go ahead with it," said one councillor.

What’s the cost? Latrobe City Council will now allocate financial support directly to the reserves in the form of maintenance grants.

  • In the 2023/24 financial year, the council provided reserves with $2,500 for maintenance.