South Gippsland council picks Foster showgrounds for new skate park
The towns skating facilities need an upgrade but finding the right location has proven difficult.
Jacob Wallace
October 20, 2025
A new Foster skate park is heading to the showgrounds - but exactly where it lands within the grounds is still up for discussion after councillors heard strong pushback from some community groups.
What happened? At a South Gippsland Shire council meeting on October 15th the council voted to put in motion plans to construct a new skate park in Foster. The current Pioneer Street facility needs replacing due to its age.
Where should the skatepark go? An alternate motion brought by councillor Brad Snell endorsed the Foster showgrounds as the site of the skate park but delayed choosing an exact location until the council’s 2026/27 master plan.
The master plan will lay out all South Gippsland’s infrastructure works.
Snell said more consultation would take place before to allow the council to make the best decision for the community.
The opposition: The Foster & District Agricultural & Pastoral Society, who use the showgrounds for events, "advocated strongly against" the showgrounds location according to councillor Scott Rae.
Rae said the agricultural group had the largest turnout to community consultations on the skate park and thought it was important it goes "somewhere where it causes least amount of inconvenience to current users".
Finding common ground: Councillor Bron Beach praised the agricultural society for its advocacy but said the council needed to balance these concerns with community needs.
“There’s a lot of young people in Foster that don’t have much to do,” said Beach.
Beach added that the showgrounds was a good location because of its a frequently used public space, allowing there to be “eyes on” the skate park in case of an accident.
Councillor Nathan Hersey said those using the current Foster skate park agreed the showgrounds was the best site but he still thought there hadn’t been enough consultation to find the ideal location.
How did the council vote? The motion was passed with seven councillors voting in favour and Rae abstaining.
