Sporting and Leisure Facilities Neighbourhood Community ...

Sporting and Leisure FacilitiesNeighbourhood CommunityInfrastructure 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 and rural land andhas 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 and Whittlesea. The City of Whittleseais a designated growth area and is experiencing asustained period of rapid urban growth, particularlyon the urban fringe. Since 2001 around 16,000people have moved in to the municipality and 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 and high demandfor 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 Disadvantageand the fourth most disadvantaged on the Index ofEducation and Occupation.To accommodate this growth, diversity and highservice demand, the City requires practicalresponses that balance community development,economic growth and environmental wellbeing.Insufficient resources, because of inappropriatefunding formulae, have failed to keep up withpopulation growth resulting in a backlog ofcommunity infrastructure renewal and creation withinboth established and emerging communities. TheCity provides a range of recreation participationopportunities for residents through the provision offacilities, public infrastructure, programs andservices. However, the provision of facilities andinfrastructure is not keeping pace with populationgrowth and demand.Increased State Government investment in socialinfrastructure is essential to achieve a basic level ofservice provision.The Need and ProposalThe Sycamore Reserve is situated in Mill Park.Council proposes to reconfigure the SycamoreReserve sports field to cater for changing demandsof the local area, more adequately meet the needs oflocal residents and provide opportunities forincreased participation in growing sports. TheSycamore Reserve is a very important parcel ofactive open space because of its size and potential tocater for a number of simultaneous activities bothstructured and 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 and changing needs ofusers. The upgrade will improve access andopportunities to the community in engaging inrecreation and 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 and 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.