State Government Policy AlignmentA Fairer Victoria:Strategy 12: Building stronger communitiesAction 12.8 Support new community projects“Continue to provide support for community projectsthrough the <strong>Community</strong> Support Fund”.Growing Victoria Together:High quality, accessible health <strong>and</strong> communityservices.“The health of Victorians will improve.”Department for Vic. Communities – SRV –<strong>Community</strong> Facility Funding Program“The <strong>Community</strong> Facility Funding Programcontributes to the provision of high quality <strong>and</strong>accessible community sport <strong>and</strong> recreation facilitiesacross Victoria.”2
<strong>Sporting</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Leisure</strong> <strong>Facilities</strong><strong>Neighbourhood</strong> <strong>Community</strong>Infrastructure PrioritiesFact Sheet: Sycamore Reserve Sports FieldReconfigurationOur MunicipalityThe City of Whittlesea is located 20km north ofMelbourne. It is a large municipality covering an areaof 490 square km of both urban <strong>and</strong> rural l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong>has a current population of over 134,000. The Cityincludes the suburbs of Bundoora, Donnybrook,Doreen, Eden Park, Epping, Humevale, KinglakeWest, Lalor, Mernda, Mill Park, South Morang,Thomastown <strong>and</strong> Whittlesea. The City of Whittleseais a designated growth area <strong>and</strong> is experiencing asustained period of rapid urban growth, particularlyon the urban fringe. Since 2001 around 16,000people have moved in to the municipality <strong>and</strong> over9,500 extra dwellings have come on line. This growthis predicted to remain strong for the next 25 years ormore with a projected increase in our population to240,000 by 2031.The municipality faces the distinctive challenges ofbalancing the dynamics of urban areas, rural areas,rapid growth, social disadvantage <strong>and</strong> high dem<strong>and</strong>for services. The City has one of the most culturallydiverse populations, with over 48% of residentscoming from non-English speaking backgrounds.Whittlesea has also the fourth highest population ofIndigenous people in metropolitan Melbourne. TheCity of Whittlesea is characterised by pockets of highsocio-economic disadvantage, ranking the sixth mostdisadvantaged on the SEIFA Index of Disadvantage<strong>and</strong> the fourth most disadvantaged on the Index ofEducation <strong>and</strong> Occupation.To accommodate this growth, diversity <strong>and</strong> highservice dem<strong>and</strong>, the City requires practicalresponses that balance community development,economic growth <strong>and</strong> environmental wellbeing.Insufficient resources, because of inappropriatefunding formulae, have failed to keep up withpopulation growth resulting in a backlog ofcommunity infrastructure renewal <strong>and</strong> creation withinboth established <strong>and</strong> emerging communities. TheCity provides a range of recreation participationopportunities for residents through the provision offacilities, public infrastructure, programs <strong>and</strong>services. However, the provision of facilities <strong>and</strong>infrastructure is not keeping pace with populationgrowth <strong>and</strong> dem<strong>and</strong>.Increased State Government investment in socialinfrastructure is essential to achieve a basic level ofservice provision.The Need <strong>and</strong> ProposalThe Sycamore Reserve is situated in Mill Park.Council proposes to reconfigure the SycamoreReserve sports field to cater for changing dem<strong>and</strong>sof the local area, more adequately meet the needs oflocal residents <strong>and</strong> provide opportunities forincreased participation in growing sports. TheSycamore Reserve is a very important parcel ofactive open space because of its size <strong>and</strong> potential tocater for a number of simultaneous activities bothstructured <strong>and</strong> unstructured. It is imperative that thisreserve continues to cater for the changing needs ofthe community.The facility has been targeted for upgrade as it nolonger caters for the growing <strong>and</strong> changing needs ofusers. The upgrade will improve access <strong>and</strong>opportunities to the community in engaging inrecreation <strong>and</strong> leisure activities, including DDAcompliance.The configuration of the ovals is inadequate to meetthe needs of the community. The whole site will beredeveloped to create two cricket <strong>and</strong> football ovalswith the soccer club being relocated to another, moresuitable facility.Cost$1.1M is being sought towards the total cost of theproject. The timeline for completion is 2010/11.
Change language