BY LILLY HAINES
Lake Macquarie City Council has released a new $35 million plan to upgrade the Hunter Sports Centre at Glendale, lodging a development application for the site last week.
The plan proposes a three-storey state of the art gymnasium and athletic centre with an athletic warm-up and testing area, a 1,975 square-metre trampoline hall housing a 450-seat grandstand.
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| Proposed expansion to the Hunter Sports Centre Facilities. Image: EJE Architecture |
Lake Macquarie mayor Kay Fraser says these new facilities would see the centre given tier-one athletic status which would provide greater opportunities for regional athletes.
"We don't have anywhere really in regional NSW where young people and people who want to be in this sporting arena can actually come and participate and hone their skills.
"This is an area that is growing, we know that a lot of young people are going to athletics, we know gymnastics is really popular and we need a facility here to accommodate our needs and at the moment we are nearly at capacity." Cr Fraser said.
If funding for the project can be secured the proposed plans would see additions to the current track and field facilities, new community function areas and meeting rooms, new road access to the centre, landscaping upgrades around the site, and bus and car parking spaces.
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| Proposed upgrades to the Hunter Sports Centre Facilities. Image: EJE Architecture |
"Visitation of the centre has grown to the point where we really need this Hunter Regional Sports centre because there is an increase in demand for event and community use in the growing Hunter region.
"This extension will improve community access to the facilities and programs and it will support many community groups in a state of the art sporting facility and given the other sporting facilities in our community, this fits in nicely with the overall plan for our city," Mayor Fraser said.
Other proposed facilities in the area include a
$25 million basketball facility holding 10 courts and 4000 spectators on Hillsborough Rd, which the NSW government promised to deliver in the lead up to the March election.
Last year Lake Macquarie City Council
outlined plans for a $10 million Trampoline Centre also at Glendale but was unable to secure state funding, which Cr Fraser said has not deterred the council from advocating for sports infrastructure funding for the region.
"Unfortunately, it hasn't received funding in the past, but we continue to advocate for funding to deliver this project.
"Once we receive a development application approval we are shovel ready.
Which means we are more in a position, if there are funds available, to start building this facility straight away," Kay Fraser said.
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| Image: EJE Architecture |
