Narromine's Harding family fighting to have private motocross track approved

Luke and Kerry Harding's three children all take part in motocross, a decision which led them to buy a 25-acre block so their kids could practice which seemed like a simple enough plan at the time.

But the Hardings had their plans squashed by Narromine Shire Council who refused to approve the track after a development application was submitted more than 12 months ago.

Mr Harding said their property has all the right zoning for a track to be constructed and they believed at the time it could be built without any fuss at all.

"We are actually zone primary production, when you look that up motorcycle tracks are allowed with consent," he said.

"The opposite of the road to us is residentially zoned and I don't think you are allowed to have a motorcycle track.

"We bought 25 acres three years ago, the kids have been riding there since we bought it with just a couple of little jumps.

"Our kids ride motocross and there is nowhere to ride, the reserves around Narromine or any reserve anymore.

"Basically we bought the place so the kids could train, every other sporting facility in town has somewhere to train."

The Hardings are no strangers to travelling all over Australia for motocross events and with their closest local track being in Dubbo, they had a specialist come from Victoria to build their track more than 18 months ago.

"We bought the block of land for the kids and their safety basically, we travel everywhere racing," he said.

"It's just so they can safely learn how to jump, you can't expect to go to a race meeting and run with the fast kids without knowing that.

"That's basically what we did, they've been riding the paddock for a few years on a flat track with a couple of jumps.

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"We had a contractor from Melbourne come up because he was building a few tracks in Dubbo.

"One of them was for Blake Fox who rides professional and another was at the Devesons'."

Following their private track being constructed, the Hardings were informed by the council they would need to submit a development application, something which was knocked back.

Mr Harding said their application was knocked back on a number of points, including noise levels which required a test, drainage which is uncommon on farmland and a lack of public interest.

While there may be a lack of public interest in the eyes of some, the Hardings' petition currently has more than 1100 signatures.

Mr Harding said they were close to getting the decision overturned by the council but the deciding vote ultimately went against them.

"We weren't allowed to ride the track so we asked for permission to ride it purely for the noise test so we could get an accurate reading," he said.

"But they declined it then knocked back our noise test because it wasn't accurate enough.

"It went to a council meeting because it was the most talked about thing in Narromine for a while.

"At the meeting, they could have overturned it but the votes for us were three to two.

"It came to the mayor's vote and he voted against then used his casting vote against us so it ended up being four to three.

"That left us with nowhere to go."

Private tracks on family-owned land can be found all across NSW and Australia, with several tracks being in Dubbo.

Currently, the Harding children are able to ride next to the track and on the other areas of their land but are unable to use the track, something which their father believes is quite confusing.

"The other thing is we can ride at my place on the rest of the 25 acres just not on the track, we can ride directly next to it but because there are technically jumps we need a DA," he said.

"I can ride directly next to it with as many bikes as I want with no noise test and they don't say anything."

After being knocked back, the Harding family has been hard at work contacting solicitors and other professionals to make sure their new application will have everything it needs to be approved.

Mr Harding mentioned he would even be open to the council recommending certain hours and days the track could be used, something which has not even been considered during the first application process.

"It's not a big track, it's not something the kids will ride all weekend," he said.

"It's more so something when I can back from work at 4pm or 4:30 we can chuck them on it for an hour for two afternoons a week.

"Motocross isn't something you can do for hours and hours and hours.

"They didn't even give us that option, they could've said you can only do it on these days between these times.

"The kids go to school, they play other sports and we could've come to an agreement on a certain amount of hours during the week and on weekends."

Even without their own track, Mr Harding admitted his family have still found a way to excel in the motocross world against riders who are training more regularly.

"My little girl came fifth at the state titles, that's in the boy's class not the girls," he said.

"So we'll probably go to Australian titles in September at Rockhampton which they sort of need to be practice, it's been sitting there for 18 months and we can't touch it."

The Harding family's petition can be found here.

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