Huge $38m Mount Barker sports hub wins development approval
WORK on a $38m sports hub at Mount Barker — featuring two ovals, four soccer pitches, eight netball courts, six tennis courts and 12 cricket practice wickets — begins next year, after winning development approval. See the plans.
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WORK on a $38 million sports hub at Mount Barker will begin next year, addressing a chronic shortage of playing space, after the project won development approval.
Mount Barker Council’s assessment panel has approved the project, which includes two ovals for football and cricket, four soccer pitches, eight netball courts, six tennis courts and 12 cricket practice wickets.
Mayor Ann Ferguson said the precinct would cater for the area’s growing population after a study showed the district needed about nine more ovals to meet demand over the next 20 years.
“We have the highest ageing community in SA but have a young demographic coming in buying their first homes, with young children,” Mrs Ferguson said.
“We have 1000 new residents come to Mt Barker every year.”
Work would begin in autumn.
“Now it’s got the tick, we can move along and make progress and it’s a good message to send to the residents that things are actually happening — we’re not just talking,” Mrs Ferguson said.
The Bald Hills Rd site will also include change rooms, a medical area, landscaping works and parking space for more than 1000 cars.
Mrs Ferguson said as a separate project, the council hoped to build a new swimming centre with indoor and outdoor pools, which was likely to cost around $27 million.
The Federal Government promised $10 million towards the centre in the lead up to the Mayo by-election, but the council would seek more federal and state funding to turn the idea to reality.
In the long term, Mrs Ferguson hopes the sports hub would also incorporate a stadium, child care centre and medical consulting rooms.
The council will allocate money towards the regional sports hub early next year, after deciding on construction tenders for the first stage.
That work would likely incorporate one of the football and cricket fields, two soccer pitches, lighting, landscaping, change rooms, toilets and umpire and medical rooms.
The Federal Government has pitched in $8 million towards the project, along with $3.4 million from the State Government, $125,000 from the SANFL and AFL and $50,000 from Cricket Australia and the SA Cricket Association.
Mount Barker Football Club president Graham Hughes said members had been pushing for new sports fields for about 15 years.
“It’s been a long time coming but we’re still probably four ovals short in the region,” Mr Hughes said.
He said the project’s first stage was “a big step in the right direction”.
“We’ll be trying hard to get a reasonable footprint available for our club within the precinct, but our clubroom will have to stay where it is for the foreseeable future,” Mr Hughes said. “It will be a really good facility and we would hope it will also attract SANFL games and AFL pre-season games.”
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