To nearby residents like Margaret Maker, it is much more.

“My grandson died when he was three years and three months old and he used to love playing in this park,” Mrs Maker said.

“We named a tree he used to like climbing Josh’s Tree and every time I look into the park from my house I think about him.

“It might seem trivial to some people, but it’s not to me.”

Fred Dobbin Park is one of the few sites Orange City Council wants to sell that the Environmentally Concerned Citizens of Orange is not fighting to save.

The group agrees the park should be sold and developed because it is directly across from the International Gardens, a large, open green space just a block away from Moulder Park.

However, residents argue the International Gardens do not qualify as a park.

“Nobody would play in there, you’ve only got to look at the length of the grass,” said Bernie Davis, who has lived in his Sale Street home with wife Barbara for 43 years.

“Have a look at it, there’s not one flower, not one shrub, not one seat and not one path.

“It’s hardly a park, it’s a disgrace.”

Mr Davis said residents were tired of fighting to protect a piece of land that was gifted to ratepayers by the suburb’s original developers.

“Every two or three years this comes up, and every two or three years we defeat it and think that’s that,” he said.

“But then three years later we are forced to go down the same track.

“We can’t take council at their word.”

Most residents around the park moved in when their homes were first built in the 1960s and 1970s.

Their children have since moved on, but there are signs the character of the neighbourhood is changing and the park will again be in demand.

Damian Duffy recently moved into the area with his four school-aged children.

“One of the the things that attracted us here was the open space,” he said.

“Demographics will change, younger families will move in and they’ll be attracted to these open spaces.

“For me, Orange is a town that has a range of landscape types and if you take that away I think it lessens the value and appeal of Orange.

“It would be good if council was just up front and honest and didn’t bulls..t, and admitted they are doing this because they need the money.”

Orange City Council will continue to accept submissions about their plans to rezone and sell more than a dozen similar neighbourhood parks until the close of business Monday.

Fred Dobbin is a former mayor of Orange.

bevan.shields@ruralpress.com