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Pickleball courts at the centre of a heated rally between local politicians will not be built after the Brisbane City Council scrapped the project.
The expansion of courts at Joachim Park, in the south Brisbane suburb of Holland Park West, sparked uproar from residents after it was announced in April by local LNP councillor Krista Adams.
The park was already home to three pickleball courts, and locals complained the park did not have a toilet block, and there was not enough space to support a further three.
The plan would have involved covering up green space in the park used by children to play soccer.
Following community protest over a lack of consultation, the project – rumoured to cost $240,000 – was put “on hold” by the council in May.
Labor councillors then became involved in the anti-court movement, with council opposition leader Jared Cassidy accusing the council of ignoring the community.
Former Greens councillor and mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganathan also became involved online, posting about the ecological value of the park as it was, and supporting building more pickleball courts elsewhere.
On Tuesday, Adams announced the courts would not proceed, after what she called “a sustained campaign by Labor and Green-aligned NIMBYs to stop the project”.
“I am bitterly disappointed residents of all ages will now miss out because a vocal minority was determined to block, delay and disrupt a project designed for the wider community,” she said.
Cassidy said Adams had chosen to consult pickleball groups rather than residents.
“This could have all been avoided if councillor Adams simply did her job,” he said.
“This park already has pickleball courts there. Why is councillor Adams giving higher priority to stakeholders outside of the ward over her own community?”
In regards to Sriranganathan’s involvement, Adams said he only cared because he had recently moved nearby.
“It’s yet another example of how the Greens are really nothing but NIMBYs,” she said.
Sriranganathan said he was no longer a Greens spokesperson.
“I don’t know why the LNP are making it about me,” he said, adding he thought the underlying issue was that the council was not establishing enough new parks to align with population growth.
“I’m embarrassed for Krista and the LNP that they’re trying to cover up their mistakes by blaming the Greens,” he said.
“No one had a problem with the existing three courts, but doubling [them] to six and concreting over the main soccer field was a stupid idea.”
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