Sporting and Leisure Facilities Neighbourhood Community ...

Sporting and Leisure FacilitiesNeighbourhood CommunityInfrastructure PrioritiesFact Sheet: Laurimar Town Park Sports PavilionDevelopmentOur 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.facilities, public infrastructure, programs andservices.However, the provision of facilities and infrastructureis not keeping pace with population growth anddemand. Increased State Government investment insocial infrastructure is essential to achieve a basiclevel of service provision.The NeedLaurimar is located in the rapidly developing growtharea of Mernda. The Laurimar Estate is currently insecond stage development which includes acommunity and commercial precinct.The Laurimar Town Park is situated centrally withinthe community and commercial precinct and isdirectly next to the Laurimar Primary School(currently under construction).The Park currently consists of 2 sports ovals with thecapacity to cater for Australian Rules Football andCricket at both senior and junior levels. The ovalswere constructed & funded through developercontributions.To allow the reserve to be utilised to its full potentialfor organised community sport, a pavilion isnecessary for club operations and fundraisingpurposes.It is anticipated that an established sports club will berelocated to the facility to further develop andenhance community sports participation, strengthenjunior development programs through links with thenew primary school, promote a healthy and activelifestyle and ensure success through thesustainability and longevity of existing resources.The City provides a range of recreation participationopportunities for residents through the provision of